


League of Superheroes

by gokioh



Series: Taeyong Lee-Stark [1]
Category: NCT (Band), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Crossover, Avengers Family, M/M, Mentioned NCT members - Freeform, Superheroes, children mark johnny and taeyong, taeyong is tony starks son, with nct's mark johnny and taeyong
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-23 01:03:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 49,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23003275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gokioh/pseuds/gokioh
Summary: Taeyong Lee-Stark was 8 when his mother died and he had to go live with his father, Tony Stark. The genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, Tony Stark who was not ready to have a kid on his door step. This story follows Taeyong as he tries to better his relationship with his father but also try to live in a world where either everyone hates him or loves him.ORTaeyong Lee-Stark grows up around Tony Stark's new found heroism (ft. Mark Lee and Johnny Suh)
Relationships: Lee Taeyong & Suh Youngho | Johnny, Mark Lee & Lee Taeyong, Mark Lee & Suh Youngho | Johnny
Series: Taeyong Lee-Stark [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653202
Comments: 26
Kudos: 92





	1. Introducing,,,,, the BABIE

Taeyong Lee-Stark was 8 when his mother died and he had to go live with his father, Tony Stark. The genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, Tony Stark who was not ready to have a kid on his door step. This story follows Taeyong as he tries to better his relationship with his father but also try to live in a world where either everyone hates him or loves him.

OR

Taeyong Lee-Stark grows up around Tony Stark's new found heroism (ft. Mark Lee and Johnny Suh)

***

Taeyong didn't remember much of how he came to be in Tony Stark's Malibu mansion, or in his work place or such high-end, luxury hotels... wherever his father went, he was dragged too (unless it was for work in which case he was usually in the Malibu mansion). He did remember sirens and crying, and feeling terrified and tired. He didn't remember his mother, whom apparently died when he was coming back from school. He would remember seeing Tony look at him whilst the police filled him in and taking hold of Pepper Potts' hand as she took him into a very nice looking car.

Nicer than Johnny's moms car. He loved Johnny, and he loved his little brother Mark too. Taeyong wished that if he had an older brother it would be Johnny. He loved Johnny so much he practically cried and begged not to be separated from his neighbour when he realised that he was going to be living with the genius, playboy, Mr Stark permanently. Taeyong had remembered Mark crying because he was so young and didn't understand what was going on, but he did know that Taeyong was leaving.

Taeyong remembered Johnny's mother, Mrs Seo wanting to take him in, but she didn't have enough money to take care of three kids. But, Mr Stark did. He didn't know much about fathers but he did know that Mr Stark didn't act like the ones he saw on TV. He was used to getting tucked in bed, with the corners of the duvet also tucked under his feet just as he liked it to be. Mr Stark didn't do that, he made that very clear when Taeyong asked. But then again, Taeyong didn't expect him too, his mum didn't do that either. It was Mrs Seo that used to tuck him in at night. She would kiss his forehead, but make sure to kiss his hair because he didn't like his skin feeling sticky from her lipstick.

The boy let Ms Potts tuck him in, but she did it haphazardly. She didn't tuck the duvet under his feet right, so he sat up and did it himself when she left. He didn't dare ask her to kiss his forehead like Mrs Seo did, and cried the first night, and the night after that and the night after that. He stopped when he met a tall and round man whose name was Happy. Happy was calm but funny and reminded Taeyong a bit like his mum. She was always out and her words were slurred; it'd make Taeyong laugh when he tried to have a conversation with her when she was finally home. But she always wrapped her arms around him and rocked him back and forth, tell him stories in such a weary way as if she was far into fairy land she forgot she was just in their dingy living room.

Happy was like that (the calm and gentle part at least)—so after that week—Taeyong asked Happy to tuck him in. He explained to the man how he liked to be tucked in properly and sat up again to demonstrate. When Happy stood and bid Taeyong goodnight, the younger squeaked out a little requested between his small six year-old lips. "Goodnight kiss?" He had the duvet almost covering his nose because he was so embarrassed, but Happy complied. Taeyong had to explain that he didn't like lips on his skin so he had to carefully kiss him on his hair. 

"But on my left side," the younger instructed. Happy smiled patiently, nodded silently and kissed the younger on the left side of his forehead. Happy was now in charge of tucking the younger to bed.

Taeyong didn't ever lose contact with Johnny or Mark. Even though Mr Stark didn't have time to show Taeyong an ounce of love he so desired; the billionaire paid for his two younger friends education. They went to a private school close to the Malibu house that Mr Stark lived in and Taeyong could meet them all the time because they visited every day after school. He loved them both very dearly and wanted to thank Mr Stark but he hadn't said a word. Pepper tried her best to take care of Taeyong; but trying to balance a company, Mr Stark himself, and a child on top of that? Taeyong just hung out with Jarvis. Mr Stark didn't find the need in hiring a nanny when Jarvis was fully capable of taking that role.

Taeyong had gotten used to not seeing Mr Stark and this continued on until he turned eight. Which is where Taeyong is right now, sitting at home, letting Jarvis teach him about astronomy and space whilst he waited for Mark and Johnny's arrival. He didn't understand why he couldn't go to school himself, but every time he brought this issue up, Pepper would explain that everyone was too busy. What he understood from that was everyone being too busy to at least take care of him.

The young boy let his legs swing from under him, unable to touch the floor because he was still so short. He looked up at the clock and let himself sigh internally because he didn't want Jarvis to hear. But Jarvis heard everything. "Perhaps we should finish the lesson early, Mr Lee-Stark?" the A.I. asked.

Taeyong pouted and shook his head, "Sorry Jarvis. I'm waiting for Johnny and Mark." As if the g-ds were listening, the door bell rang. "I'll get it!" Taeyong shouted, even though he knew it was only him and Jarvis in the house. Pepper was at the company because Mr Stark had to go to Iran... or Afghanistan... or some place to sell more bombs? Taeyong didn't have the energy to care for his dad's work, especially because it was boring.

He opened the huge door and grinned wickedly as he saw Johnny and Mark standing in their uniform as usual. "How's it?" Taeyong asked, pulling the heavy door and letting his friends in the house. Johnny kicked off his shoes and made himself at home whilst Mark had to un-tie his shoelaces because they were new. "Told you you should've gone for the velcro," Taeyong said, bending down and helping un-tie his other shoe. If Taeyong could steal Mark and have him as his own little brother he would— it's not like Johnny would care. He was always complaining about how annoying Mark was.

Mark hurried to the sofa where his brother was sprawled on and also jumped on it. Taeyong smiled and walked over to the boys, letting himself settle on the couch and slide so that half his body was just lying on the seat itself. "How's it?" Johnny asked.

"Chill," Taeyong replied, "you?"

"Boring, wanna come round ours like you did last week? We can play Mario Kart again and beat the pipsqueak over there," Johnny grinned, looking over at Mark.

"I can play!" the six year-old whined, "I just had a cold," he made up. Taeyong laughed, Mark sucked at playing Mario Kart. "Stop laughing!" the younger shouted, looking close to tears.

"If you're gonna cry, can you not do it here? You're loud," Johnny teased.

Mark's lower lip wobbled and Taeyong had to intervene or he would start to cry. He stepped up and walked over to the younger, sitting beside him, "Let him off Johnny. He had a cold," Taeyong looked down at Mark and winked; making the younger snicker as if they were sharing a dirty, little secret against Johnny. Johnny started up the T.V. and the boys all sat around it, watching Ben 10 aimlessly. That was until Pepper came in through the main doors with a bunch of papers and her phone glued to her ear as usual. Taeyong sighed and rolled his eyes, "For a second I thought it was Happy."

Johnny nodded, "hey. Now that Pepper's here, can't you ask her for permission to come round?" he asked.

Taeyong sat up and nodded, "I forgot about that—"

Johnny snorted, "course you did. Go on then," the older motioned for Taeyong to go whilst he turned back to the T.V. wanting to watch more Ben 10.

Taeyong got up and followed back to where Pepper went, it was usually her office. He knocked and let himself in, standing by the door. Pepper looked up and made eye contact with Taeyong before going back to work; that was her way of saying that she was listening. "Johnny and Mark are inviting me over to theirs for tonight, can I go?" he asked.

"Did you go last week?" she asked.

"Yes," the younger confirmed.

"Do you really have to? You father's getting a very prestigious award tonight—"

"He gets those all the time Pepper," the younger drawled out.

"Well it would be better with you out of the house..." she muttered.

Taeyong furrowed his brows, "What do you mean? Don't you want me here?" he asked.

"No it's not that— sorry. What I meant was that— well your father might come home—"

"—and not want me here?" Taeyong interrupted. "I get it," he said in finality, as if the conversation was over.

"Taeyong your father wants you here he's—"

"I get it," he repeated. Pepper shut her mouth and watched as Taeyong slipped out of the room. Even if both father and son didn't want to acknowledge it, they both shared so many similarities. Taeyong had Tony's attitude and signature look that managed to put people in their place without a word. Like just now as he finished the conversation; with a final look and finishing statement that he approved of. She could tell that over the past two years she hadn't done as much as she could for Taeyong and some part of her didn't really find the strive to do so. His mother was a beautiful Korean woman who managed to have one lucky fling with Tony and end up with his baby. The woman was carrying probably the most expensive kid of this generation in her womb and then she died because she overdosed.

Taeyong skipped back to the living room and wiggled his eyebrows when Johnny and Mark looked over at him. "She let you?" Johnny said surprised.

"S' not like she couldn't say no. Everyone's busy, no one can take care of me so I'll have to have someone looking after me for tonight."

"You should just live with us forever!" Mark exclaimed, hugging Taeyong tightly. The older pushed the boy off him and ruffled Mark's fluffy, black hair. "I wish you could..."

"Same, one day we'll all live together. In a big house like this but bigger!" Johnny shouted. Taeyong laughed and nodded, he couldn't wait for that.

***

That evening, Taeyong, Mark and Johnny all made a huge fort in the living room whilst Mrs Seo put on 'The Rugrats Movie' for them. They all huddled around the television as the film started. Taeyong was the first to fall asleep, so Mrs Seo carried him into Johnny's bed because the older boy wanted to sleep in the fort. Taeyong opened his eyes tiredly when he saw Mrs Seo tuck in his feet and smiled softly, "Mrs Johnny?" he called.

She chuckled quietly and sat by Taeyong, patting his arm, "What is it, baba?"

"Can I stay here forever?" he whispered.

She smiled sadly, "I wish you could..."

Taeyong nodded, "goodnight."

"Goodnight Taeyong-ah," she kissed his forehead and let the younger go back to sleep. When Taeyong couldn't hear her footsteps anymore, he sat up and looked out of Johnny and Mark's window.

"I wish my mom was alive," he whispered, closing his eyes. "I hope Mr Stark has a good time with his stupid trophy," Taeyong muttered lowly before he crawled back into bed.

And Mr Stark was having a good night; after playing at a casino for the majority of the evening and then picking up some reporter for the night. So yes— alcohol, money and women, what more could he ask for? Tony Stark let himself go that night, had sex and then be done with it. He watched as the blonde girl beside him... what was her name? "Kristie?" he sighed, not really remembering through the fog in his mind. The playboy got up from his bed and went to take a shower, letting the water run over is body whilst his mind pushed through with new inventions. New ways to make his empire grow stronger and more powerful.

"What did she call me?" he whispered to himself, whilst he wore his loose clothing. Tony Stark walked down to his basement and got started on something old, or maybe something new. "The merchant of death," the corners of his lips turned upward, "cute." He worked hard into the night, deciding to simply upgrade another one of his engines for his many cars. He didn't notice the sun go up until the ringing of his music died down. The inventor continuing with his work, "Please don't turn down my music," he said, getting up and turning around to face his assistant Pepper Potts.

"You are supposed to be half way around the world by now," she said, referring to his deal to the military. Tony sighed and got up, already walking over to fill up a cup of espresso. "You still owe me five minutes," she reminds.

"Five? I'll need a little longer than that—"

"Focus. I need to leave on time today."

"You're rushing me," Tony said. He took the entire espresso cup with one swift gulp and handed the cup to Pepper before walking away. "What, you have plans for tonight?"

"The MIT conference," she reminded. "Yes or no?" Pepper did that a lot, give him the idea and ask for a yes or no. He wouldn't listen to her ramble about the pros and cons of what he could buy, it was his money anyway.

"Maybe, tell me your plans," he turned to her with an arched brow. His interest was piqued.

"I'll tell them yes," Pepper decided. That happened more often than not, Pepper would just take whatever deal she thought was best for the company. She should be the head, not Tony, but he would never say that. "You want to buy the Jackson Pollock? He's got another buyer in the wings—"

"What's it look like?"

"It's a minor work in his later Spring Period, but it's ridiculously overpriced," she said.

Tony snorted, "buy it." He watched Pepper started to talk on her blue tooth ear piece and then turn to Tony with a look. "What?"

"It's Rhodes. He left an hour ago," she said.

"You have plans don't you?" he asked, walking closer to her.

"I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday," she said.

"It's your birthday again?"

Pepper's smiled slightly, "Yep. Funny huh? Exact same day as last year."

"Well get yourself something nice from me," he said.

"I already did," she smirked.

"And?"

"Oh it was tasteful, very elegant," she laughed, "thank you, Mr Stark."

"Your welcome Miss Potts," he smiled.

"You guys done?" a voice called. Tony felt his eyes almost roll to the back of his head before he stopped himself. He looked past Pepper's shoulder and gave Taeyong a stretched smile, "Happy birthday Pepper," he smiled.

"Thank you Taeyong," she smiled and turned around to the younger boy. "You came back early?"

"Came back?" Tony looked at Pepper, thankful he didn't have to make eye contact with the little squirt. He just didn't know how to... communicate with the younger spawn.

Taeyong nodded, "went to Johnny and Mark's for a sleepover. Saw Christine Everhart outside, from that magazine place right?" Pepper and Tony froze, Taeyong didn't know about his 'nights'. Tony might not want to be the kids dad but even he wouldn't let his son see what he got up to. "She didn't bat an eyelash at me—"

Pepper snickered, "how do you know that phrase?"

Taeyong grinned, "Happy and I are on Season 10 of 'Murder, She Wrote' I think we're close to finishing." He furrowed his brows and tapped his chin, "Don't remember... anyway, how's it?" he asked looking at Pepper, starting to walk around and look over at Tony's work. Tony furrowed his own brows, never understanding what the kid was trying to say what he asked that, but also because Taeyong was very close to the car he was working on.

"Chill," Pepper would reply every time.

"Don't touch," Tony said, walking over to the younger and guiding him away from his car.

"Alright, but you've forgotten to add coolant," he said, walking over to the door and leaving.

Tony arched his brow and looked back at his engine. "Huh, guess I did..."

Pepper smiled and walked out of the basement herself, "Rhodes's still waiting you know," she reminded.

"Yeah... I'll be there," he muttered.

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

The boy was on Obadiah Stane's lap when the news was broken down for him so he could understand it easier. "He won't get it because he doesn't know anything about Tony," Pepper tried to explain, talking to Obadiah as if Taeyong wasn't right on the man's lap.

"Don't look down on him," Obadiah advised, "he might be a child but he's a Stark."


	2. The Merchant of Death, huh?

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong Lee-Stark was six when his mother overdosed and he was forced to live with his biological father, Mr Tony Stark. Tony hasn't taken the slightly interest in knowing the boy, so Taeyong doesn't either. Both Stark's being stubborn will get them nowhere. But, it's fine, because Taeyong has Johnny and Mark and that's all he needs

And Tony? Well... at least he has his money. 

Tony couldn't really remember what landed him in a small and leaky cave with lights blaring in his eyes and pipes leading into his skin. He had woke up panicking and looking around the dark but also insanely stark white lights that surrounded him. Making him squint and push at the air around him before he realised there was something in his nose. So he pulled whatever was in there, out. Almost two feet of tube coming out of his nose and it stung like hell and back but at least he can talk and breathe better now.

He looked over to find an old man, skinny and frail, a complete stranger. Who was humming to a song that Tony didn't recognise but he decided that he didn't care, especially when he saw a jug of water, right by his side. He pulled off an IV drip connected to his arm and was so very close to reaching the water jug before a tug at his chest stopped him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," the man warned. His accent wasn't heavy but it's there and it's calming, in a weird way.

Tony looked down at the wire attached to him, his eyes following along the wire and to his horror, it's apart of a car battery. The genius looked back at where the wire connected to his own body, making him rip off the bandages that he just noticed were around his chest area. His eyes widened and he gulped when he saw an ugly device attached to his burnt and mangled skin in the centre of his chest. It's too much to take in such a short amount of time, so he fainted.

The next time Tony woke up he wished it were all a dream, but one look at his chest and he's back in his nightmare. "What have you done to me?" he croaked, feeling the effect of not drinking water.

"What did I do?" the man replied. "I removed what I could, but there was a lot left headed for your atrial septum." Tony has to think back to advanced biology back in class because he's doctor for one, but not for neurosurgery or whatever that was. "I've seen many wounds like this in my village," the man continued, "the walking dead we called them, because it took a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs. I anchored a magnetic suspension system to the plate. It's holding up the shrapnel in place... at least for now."

Tony decided he doesn't like lying down, and even when his body was screaming at him for moving, he managed to sit up. But it's better, he needed a second for the blood to rush down and away from his head. The mechanic blinked back black spots and then looked around, noticing a surveillance camera in the corner of the room. Someone's been watching him. "We met once," the man said, making Tony turn to look at him.

"I don't remember," he replied honestly.

"You wouldn't. If I'd been that drunk I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a talk on integrated circuits."

Tony doesn't want to listen to this man ramble on about nonsense. He wanted to know where he is— but the door to their cave is opened and the man dropped the spoon he was holding, straightened his back and placed his hands on his head. He warned for Tony to follow him but even when he stood up, he had trouble lifting his own hands to his head. So the man helped him, Tony really does need to get his name.

But now he's currently occupied, it seems like the people who are at the door may be the people who put him in here. Which also means that they're the people who have his weapons. A man walks in after the men who opened the door start to look around, he seems like the ringleader. But he's speaking in Arabic and Tony doesn't have a clue what he's saying. But the doctor does, so he translates for Tony. "He says welcome Tony Stark, the greatest mass murderer in the world. He's very honoured," and for once, Tony feels sick to be labelled 'the merchant of death.' "You will build for him Jericho missile you were demonstrating."

Ah, that's what happened. Tony remembered the missile and selling it to the military, the newest design to his tech. It could code and separate itself to cover more area when fired. It was brilliant and Tony was actually proud when he came up with the final design. But to see his other missiles, other weapons used against him. He remembered the attack and what the men did to him, so he held his head high and raised his chin slightly. Exactly how he had taught himself a long time ago, Tony put on a mask he covered for everyone and turned to the ringleader of the entire thing and said plain as day, "I refuse."

That's when the doctor slapped him, "You refuse? You will do everything the great Abu Bakar says. You're alive only because of his generosity. You are nothing. Nothing—" he spat— "he offers you hospitality and you answer with only insolence. He will not refuse," this time the doctor is looking at Abu. Abu seemed to look smug before he set out of the room, taking his men with him, the doctor looks down at Tony with glee. "You did perfect Stark." Now Tony's confused, "Good. I think they're starting to trust me. Now that's the end of my plan," the doctor returns back to his cooking.

***

Tony had been falling in and out of consciousness, but was starting to feel better. Sometimes he would wake up and think he was still dreaming but then he'd be pushed back into reality because of Yinsen, the doctor who helped puncture a hole into him. The next time he woke up, he was kicked to his knees and had a bag pulled over his head. It was a tweed bag and he could faintly make out where he was going, away from the cave. Tony didn't know much about what to do in a situation where he was kidnapped by a bunch of Afghanistan terrorists. But he still had a I-need-to-plan-a-way-out-of-here mindset so he tried to remember how to get out.

When he got outside into the light, he had to blink back a few black spots and take a couple seconds to get used to the natural light and heat. His eyes raked over many of his weaponry, old and new Stark tech with the logo sometimes worn out. He wondered how long these guys had been stealing his weapons for, he never knew. But now that he saw where his weapons were currently being dealt with, he felt sick to the stomach. Those were his weapons, and he couldn't see them in the hands of the wrong. He staggered over to his crates filled with other of his weaponry, "Quite a collection isn't it?" Yinsen said.

"How did they get all of this?" he looked back at Yinsen.

But before he could get an answer, Abu Bakar started to speak again in Arabic. He motioned for Yinsen to translate and the doctor did, "As you can see, they have everything you need to build the Jericho. He says to make a list of materials. You will start work right away and when you are done he will set you free."

Tony turned around to look at all the other men who worked for Abu Bakar and then turned to find a bald man who was much younger than Abu, but probably the actual leader, surrounded by his cronies. He was looking at Tony as if to challenge him to say otherwise and even though Tony knew what the right choice was, he knew he couldn't. He had to find a way out of here quick. When you are done he will set you free... looking back at Yinsen, he paused "No he won't."

Yinsen gulped slightly, and nodded "...no he won't."

***

Taeyong was at home when he got the news about his dad. He was also with Johnny and Mark when he got it, because it was after school time and Happy usually never hung around the Malibu house at that hour. Happy was normally in New York and came to California during the evenings to look after Taeyong and tuck him in at night (even when the younger said he didn't need to be tucked in anymore). Taeyong didn't know how to feel when Pepper told him the news, at first he was confused.

He didn't really understand the situation because he never really understood his father's work. Something about bombs and weapons and the protection of America to 'make it great' when it was already alright-ish in his opinion. Taeyong never understood what happened and when Johnny and Mark had to suddenly leave and Taeyong was suddenly flown to New York he still didn't quite understand what was going on. He just knew that he wanted to stay over at Johnny's house again but Pepper said that it was best if she looked over him. He didn't like that, Pepper wasn't very good at taking care of him, he could tell.

The boy was on Obadiah Stane's lap when the news was broken down for him so he could understand it easier. "He won't get it because he doesn't know anything about Tony," Pepper tried to explain, talking to Obadiah as if Taeyong wasn't right on the man's lap. The younger decided to play on the man's phone, pretending to be interested in the silly Galaga game that he could win with his eyes closed and secretly paid close attention to what Pepper was saying. "Hell, even the public doesn't know he exists yet, which by the way was your choice—"

Taeyong's ears perked up at that, sure he didn't know who the 'public' referred to but he did know that it was probably bad if someone didn't know he existed. He turned around to look up at Obadiah, seeing the older gentleman smile down at him, "You okay bud?"

Taeyong smiled and nodded, "Beat it," he showed Obadiah the game.

The older man chuckled, "Even beat my high score."

"High score? More like low score old man," Taeyong snickered and let his knobbly knees hit against each other as he went to play another game of Galaga. This time paying attention because now he wanted to beat his high score. Obadiah looked up from Taeyong to see Pepper looking at the boy with pity.

"Don't look down on him," he advised, "he might be a child but he's a Stark."

Pepper gave a small smile, "What do we do? Whilst Tony's gone, you're in charge Mr Stane."

Obadiah nodded, "I heard from Rhodes, he's leading the team into finding out where Tony is. If anyone is more willing to try and find Tony than it's Rhodey."

"Did Rhodes say anything else?" Pepper inquired.

Obadiah arched his brow as he heard at Pepper's slightly desperate tone, it wasn't a good look on her. Pepper straightened up when she realised how she might have been seen; unprofessional. "He suspects it might be a 'snatch and grab' mission. They attacked the base and only took Tony, so we think there's something bigger going on," he said. "We just don't know much. Once again, that's all just theory from Rhodey—"

"Well it doesn't make much sense. I think Rhodey is just a little too worried for Tony. He'll find him, it'll all be alright," she whispered. But Obadiah felt as though she were saying it more to care for herself than for him. "What about Taeyong?" she asked.

The child looked up from his game, "Yes?"

Obadiah smiled, "Wanna stay round mine till we find your pops?" he asked.

Taeyong smiled but then shook his head, "I want to stay here. I have my own room, I'm not a kid anymore you know," the boy quipped, sliding out of Obadiah's lap. "I'm big, even though Johnny's taller than me," Taeyong mumbled quietly.

Obadiah laughed and stood up, "Well that's settled. You're room's the same as the last time you were here. I'll be going now," he looked over to Pepper. Taeyong pouted and gave the current CEO his phone back, bidding the older gentleman a goodbye before looking around at the open space tower with boredom.

"What would you like to do, Taeyong?" Pepper asked, bending down so she was the same height at him.

Taeyong sighed, "I'm going to my room. Call me if someone's in a life-threatening situation, I guess." Pepper watched him walk away and gulped slightly before standing up. She heard a ringing in her ear and tapped the Bluetooth device on. It was another call from work, so she took it.

By the time dinner rolled around, Taeyong was accompanied by Happy and Pepper at the table this time. He ate his food rather quickly whilst watching Happy and Pepper exchange different updates about his dad, which they thought he still couldn't quite understand. "I've finished," Taeyong said, standing up and putting his plate in the sink. He walked away to his bedroom and got changed into his pajamas before taking out a book and reading it for a while.

When he heard a familiar tapping on his room door he smiled and called out a little "Come in."

It was Happy. The man gave Taeyong a small smile and sat at the edge of his bed, looking down at his book, "Sorry I couldn't talk much to you kiddo," he whispered.

"It's alright Happy," Taeyong reached over and patted the older on the arm. "I'm reading 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' have you ever read it?" he asked.

Happy shook his head, "I think I've seen the movie though."

"There's a movie? Can we watch it tomorrow?" Taeyong asked, his eyes widened with excitement.

Happy nodded, "anyway. Put your bookmark in and I'll tuck you in."

Taeyong rolled his eyes but did as he was told, "I'm a big boy now, I don't need to be tucked in," he said matter-of-factly. Happy nodded but still tucked the younger in like how he's been doing for the past two years. "Happy?" Taeyong whispered when the man kissed his hair.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Mr Stark will come back?" Taeyong asked.

Happy's lips wobbled and it made Taeyong frown, "I don't know."

Taeyong nodded with a small pout, "I'll make a wish for him to come back okay? Then he'll be back, I promise."

Happy smiled at Taeyong's childish antics but let the boy be. He turned the lights off and closed the door, letting Taeyong go to sleep. When Taeyong was sure that Happy was away from the door, he quickly shuffled around in his bed so he was facing the window. He bunched his hands together like a silent prayer and closed his eyes, "I wish Mr Stark was back so Happy get's to be happy again. Good night," he whispered before actually falling asleep.

***

For the first time in the two years that Tony had Taeyong in his life, he was actually thinking about the kid. He didn't really want Taeyong when he found out about him, all he knew was that he didn't know the boys mother for sure. She was apparently a one night stand that Tony had and to be honest, he knew that there was always going to be some sort of consequence to the actions that he committed but he never knew Taeyong was going to be one of them. To be honest, the women he slept with mostly were rich, so if he were going to have a child, they would easily be able to take care of them.

Not in a selfish way, Tony just wasn't ready to be a father and he didn't want to end up like his own father. But when he thought back to the lack of attention that he gave to Taeyong he realised that he was probably acting out like his old man. Giving Taeyong the money, education, food and clothes he needed but not the attention he wanted. Then again, he didn't really know how to talk to the boy. Considering every time he tried to have a conversation with Taeyong the kid wouldn't act like he wanted to continue on with it.

"I'm sure they're looking for you Stark," Yinsen said, sitting beside him. "But they will never find you here... the car battery is running out." Tony looked at his chest and to the battery, currently the only thing keeping him alive. "And they won't turn on the generator till you start your work," he said. Tony didn't say anything.

"You didn't like what you saw out there, did you? I didn't like it either when those weapons destroyed my village. What you just saw, that's your legacy—" Yinsen said. Tony shook his head, that couldn't be his destiny, it was ironic how his own creation was going to be the cause of his death. "—your life's work in the hands of these murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to try and do something about it?"

Tony turned to Yinsen very slowly, "Why should I do anything, they're either going to kill me or I'm going to die in a week."

Yinsen smiled, "then this is a very important week for you."

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

"Do you have a family?" Tony asked.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to see them." Yinsen paused his work and looked at Tony, "Do you have family, Stark?"

Tony paused and looked back at Yinsen, "I have a boy."


	3. Blasting our way out of here

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony Stark is lying in and out of consciousness after he was hit by one of his own weapons. He's left in a cave, wondering where he is and how to get out, whilst also being threatened to make one of his newer creations; the Jericho missile. Whilst he remains in the life and death situation in the cave, Taeyong is moved to New York, his father's workplace — not fully grasping the situation.

Tony has a week to make the missile, so he does just that.

***

Tony did make the week a hell of a lot easier for him, so yes he was going to build them the Jericho. Well, at least that’s what they thought; like hell he’d have someone boss him around. He may have been strapped down and tied to a flimsy car battery that was supposed to power a makeshift arc reactor to keep him alive but he was still Tony ‘genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’ Stark. First he needed to make a list of everything he needed, and whilst he had Abu Bakar’s men re-adding a new generator to his car battery, he was currently calling all the shots around the small enclosed cave. 

See Taeyong and Tony definitely had the ability to flip and make them the centre of attention, they were also brilliant at becoming the smartest one in the room. So whilst he was naming out objects and different parts of his old weaponry, he was also trying to make fun of the ringleader. “S-Category missiles,” he called out, letting Yinsen translate for him. “Lot 7043. The S-30 explosives tritonal. And a dozen of the S-76. We’re gonna need mortars; M-category numbers include 1, 4, 8, 20 and 60. M-229’s and I need eleven of these,” he said, holding a leg pin. “Mines!” Tony called, looking around at Abu Bakar whilst his men all scattered around the cave and tried to add and take away things. “The pre 90s, AP 5s, and AP 16’s.” 

In a cynical way of thinking, Tony found it satisfying whilst watching Abu Bakar look around the cave and his men with fury. It wasn’t like the man could do anything about Tony and what he wanted. If he wanted his bomb completed then he was just going to have to shut up and get on with his work. So Tony smirked and turned around so the man couldn't see his smug grin. He looked down at the table he first lay on the moment he woke up in the cave, there was still a little bit of dried blood and musty stains on it. But that was the only viable place where Tony could work. 

“This area,” he looked back at Yinsen when he was translating for him. “Free of clutter and with good light. I want it at 12 o'clock to the door to avoid logjams. I need welding gear— acetylene or propane, helmets, a soldering set-up with goggles, and smelting cups. Two full sets of precision tools,” he listed. Abu Bakar seemed to be getting more frustrated with the seemingly never-ending list of appliances that Tony kept listing off. So the billionaire decided to list more. 

“Finally, I want: three pairs of tube socks, white, a toothbrush, protein powder, spices, sugar, five pounds of tea, cards—” Tony stopped, thinking and then added “—and a washing machine, top load.” He looked back at Yinsen who was staring at him in disbelief. Tony arched a brow, “Translate.” 

Yinsen did as told and by the roaring of Abu Bakar and how the man grasped Yinsen’s collar, hauling him close and spitting in rage, Tony guessed he didn’t like the washing machine. Stark walked over to Abu Bakar and got right in his face, “Must have everything,” he said slow enough for the man to understand and also mock his inability to understand English. “Great Satan make a big boom-kill for powerful Abu Bakar. Big boom-kill,” he repeated just for emphasis. Abu Bakar breathed out heavily before his eyes darted to Yinsen and then back to him Tony before shouting a bunch of Arabic and walking out of the cave in anger. 

The next day Tony was greeted with everything on his list, making him very happy. At least now he knew the people who had kidnapped him, had a weakness. Which was Tony himself. He and Yinsen were quick to start on the project, except the billionaire knew he wasn’t going to make the Jericho if he couldn’t last on a car battery for more than 24 hours at best. Which is why he needed to make a stable enough arc reactor that wouldn’t rely on a battery. So when one of his missiles was brought to him, he and Yinsen got started on dismantling it. They both removed the chip-rack cylinder from the larger warhead. “You know they’ve removed all the explosives before they brought this to us.”

“I know,” Tony said, bringing a smaller apparatus to help him, “they’re crazy— not stupid.” He removed a tiny palladium strip from the internal working of the missile crate and held it up in front of him. “This is what I’m looking for. I need eleven of these,” he said already getting the calculations forming in his head. Yes, he did need eleven. 

“Eleven?”

So they started working hard into the night as Yinsen started to extract the chip-rack cylinders from the war heads and give each one to Tony. The genius looked over at the eleven strips of palladium in front of him and carefully gave them to Yinsen. “Heat them to 1825 Kevlin,” he instructed. Already moving to start on the next project. 

“How will I know when it reaches that temperature?” Yinsen called.

“The palladium will melt,” he answered. 

Tony spent the next hours till sunrise creating copper coils around a glass ring. Yinsen watched the palladium slowly start to melt in the crucible over the fire, looked like the temperature finally reached 1825 Kevlin. Tony started to sculpt a small sand-mould for the palladium ring, whilst it fully melted. Yinsen got the palladium in a small clay cup holder so he could pour it out somewhere, Tony guided him to the sand-mould. “Careful, careful…” he said, looking at Yinsen and then at the mould. 

“Relax,” the doctor reassured, “I always have steady hands. It’s why you’re still alive.”

“Oh yeah, thanks.” 

Yinsen gave Tony a small smile, “You’re welcome.”

After the two had waited for the palladium to finally cool completely, Tony lifted it up delicately with tweezers. Yinsen came over to the mechanic and looked at the small ring of palladium with interest, “What are you building?”

“A better mousetrap,” Tony whispered. 

It was past lunch time when Tony decided he couldn't stand the bland food that he was given, what he would pay just to get some good old American cuisine. Still, he plugged a cable into a generator before turning over to Yinsen who’s shaving. “What are you shaving for? We’re almost done,” he said, heading back to work. 

Yinsen took his time in answering Tony but the billionaire had to admit that it made sense, “Look like an animal... and soon you’ll start behaving like one.” Tony threw the generator switch and looked up as the lights started to flicker in and out of energy before they resumed back to working again. He looked over at his now glowing workbench and picked up the glowing device in his hands. Yinsen, now intrigued, wiped his clean shaven face and walked over to Tony’s workbench, looking down at the round light source he was holding in his hands. It looked like a pricey light bulb. 

“That doesn’t look like a Jericho missile,” he whispered.

“That’s because it’s a miniature arc reactor. It should suspend the shrapnel in my chest and keep it from entering my heart,” Tony explained. 

“What an original invention,” Yinsen hummed. 

“Yeah, but this one’s going to last a little longer than a week.”

“It’s pretty small,” he remarked, “what can it generate?”

“Three gigajoules— per second,” Tony looked up at Yinsen. 

Yinsen’s eyes widened at the arc reactor Tony was holding in his hands. “That could run your heart for fifty lifetimes,” he marvelled.

“Or something very big for fifteen minutes,” Tony said. Both doctors looked at each other before Stark smirked, “let’s put it in.” 

Tony ended up lying down after clearing his work bench, looking up at Yinsen where he craned over him as he held the arc reactor in his hand. This time Tony was aware of what was happening as the doctor ended up saving his life for the second time, he couldn’t be more grateful. “Good,” he held the man’s hand as he looked down at the glowing light in his chest. “Now, we’ve got a missile to make.”

***

Taeyong had never felt more bored in his life. He kind of wished he could go back to his Malibu mansion and let Jarvis go over more school stuff with him. He was currently in his father's office, watching Obadiah handle the workload whilst he stayed sitting opposite him. He had been on the man’s phone playing more Galaga before his attention was swept away and boredom took over. When the door opened, he swivelled around in his plastic spinny chair and looked over to see Pepper walking in, looking slightly alarmed at seeing the two sitting in his father's office. 

“Sorry, did I startle you?” Obadiah asked. Taeyong furrowed his brows, well of course they did. 

“A little,” Pepper admitted, looking at Taeyong and then back at the old man. Pepper walked into the office and swapped the L.A. Times and Wall Street Journal with the current day one. Taeyong wasn’t much of a newspaper fan, but he still picked it up and opened it, reading the front page; which was about his father. Obadiah looked at the young and naive child before shaking his head and getting up. He walked over to the window overlooking the city before he hung his head. 

“This was a bad idea. I should never have let him go over there…” Pepper watched the man break down and felt pity rise in her stomach, she placed a consoling hand on his arm. 

“Hey, hey… we’ve got to be strong,” she muttered. “He’s going to be okay.” Obadiah straightened his posture and nodded, giving Pepper a smile. 

***

Tony had been working on anything but the missile for the men that put them in the cave. He showed Yinsen his plans after they were just threatened by the same bald man who Tony had newly learnt was called, Raza. He looked a lot more intimidating than Abu Bakar yet Tony still found himself better than the man. Yinsen was more than on board with the idea to build a suit of armour that could get the two of them out of the cave. So they created a plan. A plan to get them out of there. 

Cut to who knows how many weeks have gone by and Tony’s still working on his suit. Hammering away whilst Yinsen tells him the stories of his village, an old folk tale. “My people have a tale, about a Prince—much hated by his King—who was banished into the underworld and jailed there…” Tony doesn’t pay too much attention, he had heard many tales from the doctor. He was starting to get used to them, because they all always sounded the same to him. So he let his hammer work. Boom. Boom. BOOM. The echo of each blow vibrating into the bones from beneath his skin. 

“The evil King gave him the most difficult labour— working in the iron pits,” Yinsen continued. “Year after year the Prince mined the heavy ore, becoming so strong he could crush pieces of it together with his bare hands. Too late, the King realised his mistake…” Tony could feel the sweat dripping off his body, his hair sticking to his face as he continued with each of his hammering. He let his arm tense and swung down harder with each hit he could feel the metal start to dent and bend into shape. Dazzling sparks started to fly all around Tony as he looked down at the metal he was banging. 

“When he struck at the Prince with his finest sword— it broke in half. The Prince himself had become as strong as iron…” Yinsen finished. Yinsen looked at Tony who was finished with his hammering, he watched as he pulled out the metal to show a mask. Yinsen and Tony made eye-contact before looking at the iron suit they made in the corner of the cave. 

They both started to work on it, “Do you know how long we’ve been here for?” Tony asked, getting the two of them to haul the chest area of the suit up and hand it properly on the stand they set up. 

“Three months I believe,” Yinsen said. “Why?” Tony shook his head and resumed back to work. 

They both looked at the door where Abu Bakar currently stood and then turned to each other before they held their hands against their head. “He’s asking when we’ll finish the missile,” Yinsen translated. 

“A week,” Tony answered looking at the man in the eye. 

Raza walked in, “I want my missile in a day,” he said before pulling out a gun. Tony and Yinsen both were about to run when he rounded on Abu Bakar and shot him in the head. Tony felt his blood run cold, he looked at the dead body in the cave and watched Raza walk out before the door locked itself again. He gulped, eyes never leaving Abu Bakar’s dead body which started to bleed profusely over their work. 

Yinsen pulled him over to the suit, “We don’t have long. We must start on the suit, come on Tony.” 

“You— you—” Tony breathed in and forced his body to calm down. “You never told me where you were from.”

Yinsen nodded, “I come from a small village not far from here. It was a good place… before these men ravaged it.” 

“Do you have a family?” Tony asked.

“When I get out of here, I’m going to see them.” Yinsen paused his work and looked at Tony, “Do you have family, Stark?”

Tony paused and looked back at Yinsen, “I have a boy. His mother overdosed and I was left with him at age 6. I’ve only had him for two years and we’ve never even spoken a full conversation with each other before… I’m not a good dad.”

Yinsen shook his head, “You will be once we’re out of here. What’s his name?”

“Taeyong… he’s half Korean.”

Yinsen nodded, “It's nice.”

Tony looked back at his suit, “Let’s do this thing.” Tony had to be quick once he’s in the suit, they made sure it was facing away from the camera when they started to design it. Now that he was in the suit, they had to make sure that the rest of the parts were also added on. Yinsen was there to help with that whilst the both of them worked and Tony was powered to the computer. Suddenly, bang was heard on the door. The door they currently had locked from the inside. 

“Do something,” Tony hissed at Yinsen. 

“I can’t, we’re so close— argh!” Yinsen hides behind the stands as the door is blasted open. “You have to go!” he shouted.

Tony started to walk on the ground and looked around behind him, he put up his hand ready to fire when nothing happened, “It’s frozen. The systems aren’t talking to each other. Reset!” he ordered. 

“No, they’re moving. Just very slow,” Yinsen said. Yinsen looked back at the computer that was going to help maintain Tony’s suit. Both bars were taking time to reach the top at full capacity. He looked at the door anxiously where the guards would probably start to fire at them. If that happened and the guards reached the door before them, then they wouldn’t even get a chance to leave the cave. It would all be for nothing. “Get to your cover,” Tony ordered, “Remember the checkpoints. Make sure each one is clear before you follow me out—” Tony couldn’t say anything before Yinsen runs out of the door. “YINSEN!”

And again, Tony could do nothing but watch as Yinsen picked up a gun from the dead guard at the door and ran out. He heard the doctors wailing and then the sounds of gunshots, but he couldn’t even move until the bars had reached full capacity. Just when the lights started to flicker in and out, he then started to move, the suit was ready. 

Tony ran out of the cave and found Yinsen on a pile of sandbags, with bullet holes through his chest. He bent down to the doctor and opened up his mask, “Come on, get up, we’ve got to go.”

“I can’t.”

Tony looked at the man in distress, “We could’ve made it. Both of us. You could’ve seen your family again,” he tried. 

“I am going to see them again. They’re waiting for me,” he wheezed. Tony gulped and nodded, “Go see your family. Your son, Stark.” The doctor grinned and then sank into the bags before closing his eyes. He died, for Tony— saved his life for a third time. 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Tony looked down at Taeyong, he bent down and stood on his knees, holding Taeyong’s arms. “Hello Mr Stark,” Taeyong said. 

“Hey bud,” Tony smiled softly.

Taeyong furrowed his brows, “What happened to you for three months?” He had never been so… nice to Taeyong before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the updates will be of varying lengths, but I'll make sure that it won't go longer than two weeks, also I won't update twice in one week like I'm doing today (I just had the chapter finished, surprisingly). I understand how annoying the wait can be, which is why I'll be adding the 'PREVIOUSLY' and 'NEXT TIME' for you guys, in case you need a little recap. :)))
> 
> Thank you so much for the positive responses!! It means a lot to me. 
> 
> \- Tommy :)


	4. Sometimes we just need cheeseburgers you know?

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony and Yinsen spend roughly three months making the first of what's supposed to be an indestructible suit. It's their only hope to get out of the cave that they've been held captive in. The people keeping them prisoners are expecting the Jericho missile, but what they'll get is something that will blow a hole through their plans.

Yinsen doesn't make it out alive, but Tony continues on for him.

***

Taeyong had heard from Rhodey that they found his father in the middle of the desert somewhere. He, Pepper and Happy were going to meet him after the plane landed. Rhodey was the one that had led the search to go find his father and Taeyong was actually surprised when he realised he was happy that his dad was found. For one, he was getting bored at Obadiah’s inability to properly take care of him. He also was a little behind in schooling and spent most of his days in New York, which also meant that he couldn’t see Johnny or Mark anymore. 

So now that Tony was here, Taeyong was hoping he could go home again. It was selfish but the eight year-old had been on his own for three months. He watched Pepper walk forward when the plane landed and hold in her breath like she was waiting for something spontaneous to happen. Taeyong didn’t expect much himself, probably a ‘hey’ or maybe he’d get a sentence in. He didn’t really know how to talk to Mr Stark. The man was a mystery to the boy. 

The boy watched the rear ramp of the C-17 plane come down, to reveal his father in a wheelchair with Rhodey behind him. Mr Stark had Rhodey help him out of the wheelchair and steady him, whilst he walked out of the ramp. Pepper walked over to Tony, so Taeyong thought he should follow. He did. Seeing Mr Stark after three months was strange, it’s not like Taeyong could forget what the man looked like. He was always on every newspaper front line. But it was like Taeyong was looking at a ghost of the man in front of him. 

Mr Stark had cuts and bruises on his face, and Taeyong suspected that there was probably more on his body. His arm was also slung on a brace to help keep it up and in place to help grow stronger. Taeyong watched Mr Stark manage a tight smile to Pepper, “Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?” 

“Tears of joy. I hate job hunting,” she said. Taeyong furrowed his brows, he watched Pepper have a relieved break down when she heard the news. Why do adults always beat around the bush about their feelings (also another phrase he learnt on ‘Murder, She Wrote’). 

Tony nodded and looked down at Taeyong, he bent and stood on his knees, holding Taeyong’s arms gently. “Hello Mr Stark,” Taeyong said. 

“Hey bud,” Tony smiled softly.

Taeyong furrowed his brows, “What happened to you for three months?” He had never been so… nice to Taeyong before. 

“A lot,” Tony chuckled. 

Taeyong nodded, “well… you missed my birthday,” he said. 

“I did,” Tony bunched up his eyebrows, squinting in the sunlight. 

Taeyong nodded, “I want a present.”

Pepper could be heard laughing at the boys’ innocence but both Taeyong and Tony’s attention were purely set on each other. “What would you like?”

Taeyong bit his lip and looked down, “Can I… can I go home? I wanna see Johnny and Mark,” he finally said, looking up at the billionaire. Tony hugged Taeyong close, making the boy’s eyes widen before he hugged the man back. “Are you sure you’re Mr Stark? He would never hug me,” Taeyong whispered into Tony’s ear. 

Tony just hugged the boy tighter, “I’m sorry.”

They all piled into a limousine that Happy was driving, in direction to the hospital until, “Head to the office—”

“We’re due at the hospital,” Pepper said.

“I’ve been in captivity for three months. There’s only two things I want to do. I want to eat a cheeseburger—”

“Cheeseburger!” Taeyong cheered. 

Tony smiled, “and I want to hold a press conference,” he looked over at Pepper who was trying to tell Happy not to listen to him. But he knew that Happy would do as he said, he had to. So Tony and Taeyong both ended up getting cheeseburgers at the nearest Burger King whilst the limousine started to head to the office, where Obadiah quickly set up a press conference. They all piled out of the car with Pepper quickly taking Taeyong away from the eyes of the public and have Tony guided away to the main office.

Obadiah smiled and hugged Tony when he saw him, “See this. Huh, huh.” He smiled at the camera’s and looked over at Tony, leaning close to speak softer, “Tony, thought we were meeting at the hospital. You know there’s a lot of reporters in there. What’s going on?”

“You’ll see. C’mon—” Tony patted his partner’s back and they both headed inside. 

Obadiah was right, the room was packed with reporters, all waiting for the hundred-carat headline. Taeyong and Pepper were both standing at the back watching; the younger still munching on his burger. He looked over at the side where a man in a suit approached them, “You’ll have to take a seat sir, it's about to start soon,” Pepper spoke up. 

“Oh, I’m not a reporter. I’m Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division—”

“That is a mouthful,” Pepper acknowledged. 

“I know. We’re working on it,” he smiled, but to Taeyong it looked fake.

“S.H.I.E.L.D,” the younger muttered. “You could call yourself S.H.I.E.L.D if it makes it easier,” he smiled up at Phil. 

“Thanks, here.” Phil looked back at Pepper and handed her a card with their number on it. Taeyong lifted his hand up and motioned for a card too, so Phil smiled and gave him one. Taeyong looked at the grey card in his hand with a weird bird logo on it. 

“Look, Mr Coulson, we’ve already spoken with the D.O.D., the FBI, the CIA—”

“We’re a separate division with a more… specific focus.” Taeyong arched his brow, biting into his cheeseburger, “We need to debrief Tony about the circumstances of his escape. More importantly we’re here to help. We’re here to listen. I assure you, Mr Stark will want to talk to us.” Phil finished off his introduction like he had been learning it off by heart for a while now. Taeyong was slightly impressed, so he pocketed the business card. Might be a good bookmark one day.

“I’ll put it in the books shall I?” Pepper said, turning to look at Phil.

“Thank you,” he smiled—once again looking a little fake in Taeyong’s opinion—and then walked off. 

Tony looked like he was struggling on the stand, he looked around at all the reporters. He had just been rescued less than 24 hours ago and he already called a press conference. “I can’t do this,” he whispered. But, when Obadiah was about to lead him away and save him, the man put on his ‘genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’ mask on and looked at the cameras with confidence. “Can we just sit down— if we— yeah.” 

Tony sat down on the stairs, motioning for the reporters to follow; they did. “Makes it a little less formal you know,” he put a hand in his pocket and pulled out another cheeseburger. He made eye contact with Taeyong at the back who waved his own cheeseburger in his tiny hand. Tony winked at the boy and took a bite out of his own burger. 

When Tony wasn’t going to start talking to one of the reporters decided to start the questioning, “What happened to you over there, Mr Stark?”

Tony chewed on the burger and then thought for a second. “What happened over there? I had my eyes opened, that’s what happened. I saw my weapons, with my name on them, in the hands of thugs. I thought we were doing good here… I can’t say that anymore,” he put his burger on the ground beside him. Not really up to appetite anymore. 

“What do you intend to do about it, Mr Stark?” the reporter asked.

“The system is broken—there’s no accountability whatsoever. Right now, as of this second,” Taeyong gulped as his father’s voice got louder, “we are freezing the sale of all Stark weaponry worldwide.” 

Taeyong gasped and then closed his mouth, “What does that mean?” he asked, looking up at Pepper.

“Your father’s going to stop selling all his weapons.”

Taeyong smiled, “That’s good isn’t it?” Weapons hurt people, so stopping them meant no one got hurt, right?

Pepper bit her lip, “I don’t know.”

Taeyong watched the entire room fall into chaos. Obadiah looked ready to wrap the entire thing up, whilst moving towards Tony. “We’ve lost our way,” Tony said. “I need to re-evaluate things. And my heart’s telling me that I have more to offer the planet than things that blow up.”

Another reporter took charge, “So you’re saying…” they looked confused for a second, “What are you saying?”

Tony placed an arm around Stane to help lift himself up, “In the coming months, Mr Stane here and I will set a new course for Stark Industries. ‘Tomorrow Today’ has been our slogan. It’s time we try to live up to it.” 

Obadiah let Rhodey take Tony away as he held his arms out to the reporters, “what we should take away from this is that Tony’s back, he’s healthier than ever, and as soon as he heals and takes some time off, we’re going to have a little internal discussion and get back to you. Thank you for coming by.” Tony worked his way through the reporters to Pepper who had a stunned look on her face whilst Taeyong patted his belly, finished with his cheeseburger. 

“You mean that? Or is this some clever stock-maneuver?” she asked.

Tony looked down at Taeyong who blinked up at him with his doe, brown eyes. The man ruffled his hair and hugged him close, “Wait and see.” 

***

If one good thing came out of Tony coming back from the dead was that Taeyong was finally allowed to go back to California, to his Malibu house. He got home and immediately went over to both Johnny and Mark’s house, so that he could talk to them, watch some TV and have general, wholesome, quality, friendship time with them both. He lay on their coach and looked up to see Mark staring down at him, “How’s it?” Mark asked.

“Chill,” Taeyong replied. He let Mark sit on his legs whilst they both stared at the TV, Johnny was the slowest eater on the planet so he was currently stuck in the kitchen still eating his lunch whilst Mark and Taeyong were in the living room. “You think he’ll ever be done?” Taeyong wandered out loud.

Mark snorted, “Never in a bazillion years!”

Taeyong rolled his eyes, “That’s not a number.”

“Can be if I say so,” Mark shouted.

Taeyong placed his fingers in his ears, “You’re so loud. I was never that loud when I was six—”

“Done!” Johnny shouted, running into the living room. He looked over at the clock,  
“mom should be back in a bit.” 

Taeyong smiled, “Wanna watch some Ben 10?”

“Nah, wanna play something?” the older asked.

Mark perked up, looking at the two with excitement shining in his eyes, “Play?”

Taeyong smiled and sat up, making Mark almost fall off the couch. “What game?”

“Doctor Who!” Mark suggested. Taeyong and Johnny both grinned widely, they hadn’t played Doctor Who in a very long time. “I wanna be David Tennant!” he shouted. 

“I’ll be…” Taeyong pouted, “Donna Noble!”

“Martha Jones then?” Johnny asked. 

“Yep!” Taeyong and Mark exclaimed.

They played Doctor Who for about an hour before Johnny and Mark’s mom walked into the apartment. She was still in her diner wear as the three boys all raced around the apartment with pillows, sheets and her dresses on them. Mrs Seo smiled and shook her head, smiling tiredly at the boys. “Exterminate!” Mark shouted, poking Taeyong with their whisk. 

“Looks like someone’s playing Doctor Who,” she said. 

“Mom!” Johnny ran over to his mother in one of her old dresses, it was faded red with white flowers on them. “I’m Rose.”

She smiled and ruffled the boys hair, “Of course you are. Where’s the doctor then?”

“We all changed characters… I don’t know,” he shrugged his shoulders before running off into the living room. She smiled and brought out her phone, calling Pepper Potts. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, I’m home now. So do you want to pick up Taeyong or should I drop him off?” she asked.

“No that’s fine, we’ll have a car ready for him, thank you.”

“No problem,” the mother ended the call and walked into the living room, which was quite a state. She rounded up on Mark and lifted the small dalek in the air, making him giggle and squirm. “You boys need to start cleaning up. Taeyong, Pepper’s going to bring a car here, so be ready for that.”

All three boys made different noises to show they were upset, but nonetheless, they all trudged to start cleaning up. Happy came to pick up Taeyong as usual, the boy went and hugged Johnny and Mark before Mrs Seo kissed his forehead and then waved him goodbye. Taeyong sat in the back of the car and closed his eyes tiredly, leaning in his seat and letting the energy he used up in playing to tire him out. 

He was awoken by Happy shaking him. Taeyong yawned tiredly and trudged in the basement, letting Happy go ahead of him. He went up a floor into Tony’s lab and squinted his eyes at the bright light coming from it. He walked over to the door and put in the numbers to get the heavy door to open. Taeyong looked over at Tony who was talking to Jarvis, the man was too into the work he was doing that he wasn’t actually pay any attention to the boy. Taeyong walked behind the mechanic and sat on his spinny chair, watching him work. “It powers an electromagnet which keeps the shrapnel from entering my heart. Can you recommend any upgrades?” 

“It is different to offer counsel in light of the fact that your stated intentions are inconsistent with your actions,” Jarvis continued. 

The monitor that Tony was zooming into looked more and more like a city in his chest: which Taeyong had not seen had a light protruding from it. “The energy yield of this device outperforms your stated intention by eleven orders of magnitude. You could even accomplish your stated goal with the power output of a car battery.” Taeyong arched his brow, stated goal? The young boy leaned closer to the hologram, and watched it move around. 

“What’s that?” Taeyong asked. 

Tony flinched and looked behind him to see Taeyong stare at the hologram in the centre of the room. “Have you been there the whole time?”

The younger shrugged his shoulders, “a little bit. Wh-why?” Taeyong yawned tiredly. Tony smiled and picked the boy up, “I’m a little too old to be picked up Tony.”

“I’m your dad.”

Taeyong nodded, “Dad.” 

Tony gulped and walked up to Taeyong’s bedroom. He didn’t go into the kids room all that much, but he had a lot of posters of stars. So many books on physics and science, reminding Tony of his own childhood. He looked over at a picture of Taeyong as a baby with his mother. It was just Taeyong because his mother was cut out from it. Taeyong lay down in his bed and snuggled under the covers. 

“Good night bud,” he whispered.

“Can you tuck me in?” Taeyong whispered. Tony nodded and tucked the younger in, “under my feet. Like Happy does,” Taeyong instructed. Tony smiled and tucked the duvet under the boys feet. He looked at Taeyong who’s eyes were closed and kissed his forehead. 

“Good night… Tony.”

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong lifted his head, “There’s an exposed wire under the device,” he pointed to the hologram, “right there,” turning back he made eye contact with his father, who gave him a small smirk. “What? I’m nine, not an idiot.”

“Yeah well most nine year-olds don’t understand holograms such as these when they see them,” Tony muttered.

“Well… I’m a Stark,” Taeyong said. Tony looked at the younger and smiled.


	5. Never trust a 9 year-old to keep your Secrets

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony has returned from his captivity and the first thing that Taeyong notices is that his father is a lot more nicer to him. Taeyong doesn't know what happened over there to make his father start to change but he hopes that it's permanent. Because this Stark is a lot more nicer than the one he knew before. Except not everyone likes this Stark.

Especially when the first thing he does back is cut his weapons program. 

***

Tony had tried his best in convincing that Arc reactor energy was a good move for the company, but Obadiah was still tense about it. When the billionaire went to go and show Obadiah his chest and the arc reactor that was powering his heart, he had to be careful. His partner on the other hand, was warming up to the idea of new energy, but Obadiah still wanted to go back to weapons. That, Tony could understand, they were a weaponry unit and freezing all stock and wanting to completely get rid of them was crazy.

Many people thought Tony was crazy anyway, so why not the military as well? Rhodey, being a colonel himself, didn't really know how to react to Tony's decision. There was a fine line between trying to make sure his best friend was in the right and then trying to look at his own duty and how badly the army relied on Tony and his creations. Obadiah did take to Rhodey in trying to the old friend to make the genius see light; Rhodey, however, couldn't do much. Once Tony made up his mind that was it, there was really no going back.

The billionaire was currently in his workshop with Taeyong sitting beside him, working on the new arc reactor, a more stable one. Taeyong was doing his school work, before his nine year-old attention was turned away from the boring lesson of science and towards the magical world of engineering. He looked over at his dad who was lying on one of those dentist chair things, but without the cushioning. He walked over to his dad who was staring down at his chest.

The younger jumped on the stool and peered at his chest, "You have a hole in your chest, did you know that?" he looked up at his dad with unblinking eyes.

Tony snorted, "Don't see how I could not notice that Taeyongie."

"Why do you have it?" Taeyong asked.

"I have a piece of shrapnel in my body, it's going to my heart, you see that—" he pointed to a hologram of his body. "If that gets to my heart, I die. So this glowy thing in my chest is going to help keep me alive. But I need a new one," he explained.

Taeyong nodded, "so are you going to replace it now?" he asked.

Tony looked down at the new arc reactor in his hand and the other one in his chest, "I need someone to do it for me—"

"I can!" Taeyong excitedly said.

Tony smiled, "can't do kiddo. As much as I think you're capable to do it, we're going to need someone with steady hands," he admitted.

Taeyong pouted, "who then?"

"Call Pepper for me?" he asked.

Taeyong nodded and jumped off the stool, running out of the lab. Pepper was upstairs going through the news channel. Taeyong could only hear parts of headlines; 'Does the Hindenburg ring any bells? Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan! Look, a weapons company that doesn't make weapons!' The young boy shook his head and raced over to Pepper who was skipping through the channels.

"Pepper, Tony's calling for you," he said.

Pepper looked at him and nodded, turning the T.V. off and walked behind the younger who was skipping happily down the stairs to the lab. Taeyong looked up and typed in the pass code for the lab door and held it open for Pepper. "Thank you," she smiled and walked in, furrowing her brows when she saw Tony lying down and staring at her with a glowy thing in his hands. "Pepper, how big are your hands?" he immediately asked.

"What?"

"How big are your hands?" he repeated.

"I don't understand," she shook her head whilst Taeyong ran back to his father.

"Get down here, I need you." Tony motioned for her to show him her hands. She lifted them in the air and stood by him, "Oh wow— they are small. Very petite, indeed."

"Oh my god," she looked over at his chest, where a circle of metal was embedded in his chest. "Is that the thing keeping you alive?" she was both astounded and slightly freaked out.

"It was. Now it's antique." He lifted up the object his hands, a new arc reactor. "This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it up for an upgrade unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump—"

"—Speed bump? What does that mean?"

Taeyong lifted his head, "There's an exposed wire under the device," he pointed to the hologram, "Right there," turning back he made eye contact with his father, who gave him a small smirk. "What? I'm nine, not an idiot."

"Yeah well most nine year-olds don't understand holograms such as these when they see them," Tony muttered.

"Well... I'm a Stark," Taeyong said. Tony looked at the younger and smiled.

"That, you are. Let's hope you're the same when you grow up..." he mumbled. Pepper watched from the side lines and frowned, not liking the way Tony phrased that. "Anyway, I need you to pull out a wire," he looked over at his assistant. Pepper turned back to him and looked over at his chest, specifically at the gaping hole that still needed to be tended to.

She nodded, "I don't think I'm the best person—"

"You're fine. You can do it, and the rest of that inspiring bull, can we start now?" he asked.

She nodded, Taeyong watched with wide and unmoving eyes as she slowly took out Tony's old arc reactor. He smiled only a little when she accidentally pulled it out a little too harsh so that the wire disconnected with the magnet. He pressed his hands against Tony's chest and watched with big, unblinking eyes. His curiosity made Tony chuckle as Pepper slowly placed in his new arc reactor. Taeyong leant back on his chair and smiled up at Pepper, "You know?" He piped up. "I could have done that too."

Tony ruffled his hair, making the younger glare at his dad whilst he tried to fix it. "Well with this new reactor, we'll see if that's possible."

Taeyong pouted but still got off his dad's work stool. He jumped a little and watched Pepper hold the old arc reactor in her hands. "What do you want me to do with it?" She asked.

"Destroy it," he said very casually. Taeyong looked up between Pepper and his father. She was wondering why he's ever wanted to throw it away whilst Tony continued on with how he doesn't "need that sentimental memory. Just burn it or whatever," he waved off.

Taeyong looked back over at Pepper, the two of them sharing a look. 'I'd like it,' he mouthed to her. She gave him a small smile before leaving with the arc reactor in hand. Taeyong swung back around the spinny chair he was sitting on and gave his dad a look. "You know, the next time you'd want someone to do something like that to you, I can." He then proceeded to stick out his tiny little hands in front of his father, "see these? They're small enough to reach into that hole in your chest," he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows for extra effect. It seemed to work because Tony ruffled the younger boy's hair and gave him a contented hum, which Taeyong simply took for a yes.

The younger turned around and continued to fiddle with machine parts whilst his father stared at him, "Hopefully you'll never have to."

***

The next couple days for Taeyong was spending them down in the lab with his dad, working on different little trinkets by himself. His dad had set him up with a little miniature workplace from himself, complete with cartons of apple juice and even a small machine pet that put out his own fires. Taeyong was working on smaller things, like a toaster that would make his bread and put jam on it without the extra hand.

Whilst the younger was tinkering away, he would still walk over to his dad in order to a, ask for help (which was not a lot to begin with) and b, check out what he was doing. This is what Taeyong was currently doing, sitting on his dad's spinny chair whilst the man had a holographic shield around his arm.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"A suit, I'm working on."

Taeyong giggled lightly, "it's not a suit!" he exclaimed. "It's made out of metal."

"Nickel-titanium," he corrected. "Also, it's not that kind of suit."

Taeyong sat back down in his chair, looking over at the holographic blueprints and pouted. What type of suit did his dad mean? The younger pulled up a new tab and clicked quickly through the search engine, wanting to find out more about his father's 'suit' that most definitely did not look like a suit. He did recognise the design before, saw it on the news once. It looked so very familiar, but what was it?

Taeyong went through the news channel and squinted his eyes whilst he read through the text. Jarvis automatically shaded the screen so it wouldn't hurt his eyes but Taeyong didn't look at it for much longer because he had finally found the article. He turned back to his father with newfound glee, puffing his chest a little when he said, "You're making the suit you flew in right?!"

Tony stopped what he was working on and looked back at Taeyong astonished, "I'm not going to lie kid, I was hoping you wouldn't catch on too quickly."

This made the younger grin wider, "Why? Is it a secret? I'm going to go tell Obadiah," he sang, jumping out of his dad's chair and skipping away. Taeyong didn't get too far before his dad reached for him and lifted him over his shoulder. Taeyong cried out in joy and laughed as his father spun him around, before slowly bringing him back to the ground. The young boy, wobbled a little on his skinny legs, his knees bumping into each other, before his stabled himself and looked up at his father with a smile.

"It is a secret, and you can't tell anyone."

"Anyone?" Taeyong blinked.

"Anyone," Tony repeated.

"But... What if Pepper walked down here?" he asked.

Tony then sighed and looked back at the younger, "Then she finds out. But you have to promise me you won't tell anyone what I'm doing down here."

"Not even Johnny and Mark?" he asked, and when he saw his dad nod, the younger almost shouted then and there. He had never kept a secret from Johnny or Mark, maybe from Mark, but definitely not from Johnny. You don't do that to your older brother, that's not very nice. Taeyong jutted out his bottom lip, "Well- what if Johnny asks me? What he makes me pinky promise to tell him. Tony I can't NOT tell him if we pinky swear. I don't want my pinky chopped off," his bottom lip wobbled.

Tony's eyes widened, now staring at the younger in panic if he started to cry, "How about we pinky promise?" he suggested quickly.

Taeyong sniffed and looked up at his dad with confusion, "What do you mean?"

"You pinky promise me that you won't tell anyone about what I'm doing down here," he said. "Not even Johnny... or Mark."

Taeyong sighed, looking down at his shoes guilty before he nodded and lifted his tiny pinky in front of his dad, "Okay..." Tony connected both their pinkies and allowed Taeyong to stretch his thumb and tap it lightly against Tony's own, thus locking their pinky swear together. The mechanic found it endearing how powerful something so trivial as a pinky promise was to Taeyong, also, who knew that pinky promises had that many steps? Taeyong sat back down on his father's chair and watched as he started to work on his 'suit'.

***

This continued on for weeks, Tony spending so much of his time in the labs working on his suit whilst Taeyong did his homework. Sometimes Taeyong had to leave his dad to go and catch up with Mark and Johnny after school and throughout this time, no one had suspected a thing. That was until Taeyong was sitting in front of the TV, both Mark and Johnny beside him when they heard a loud crash stem from the labs. Taeyong's eyes widened and he looked at both Mark and Johnny who were slightly confused.

"What's that?" Mark asked.

"I don't know,'' Taeyong answered honestly, "I'll go and check," he said, standing up and racing down to the labs, Mark and Johnny in tow. Taeyong reached down to the labs and found the entire place in smoke, before it cleared up with their air filtration system. In the middle of the labs, was his dad, laying on his back in a suit.

"Tony!" Taeyong cried, running over to him and looking over at his body. He crouched down and knocked against the helmet.

"Alright alright, you don't have to knock on me," he complained, before groaning and sitting up. Taeyong watched as the mask popped off and landed on the concrete ground with a thud.

"Uh... what's going on?" Johnny asked, looking at the two.

Tony sighed and turned his attention to Taeyong who gave him a sheepish smile, "Guess we have to call it in now bud." Taeyong simply gave him a nod, just happy that he wasn't in much trouble.

The rest of day consisted of Tony showing all three boys how the machine worked. Mark sitting on Tony's desk whist Johnny spent the majority of his time spinning around in his chair, with Taeyong actually paying attention. "So that's how you escaped, you flew out!" Mark asked, bubbling in excitement.

Tony wanted to tell the younger that it was a little bit more than just 'fly out' but he simply nodded. "Yep, just flew out."

"Cool!" the younger giggled.

"Definitely," Johnny agreed, finally slowing down the chair and looking around the lab with a hazy (possibly dizzying) expression. He shook his head and looked back over and Taeyong and then at Tony Stark, "I didn't know you were this cool. You always seemed so boring," he said in his nine year-old honest mentality.

Tony fiend a hurt look, placing his hand over his chest like he had been wounded. Making all three boys laugh, "I am hurt. Why would I ever be boring?"

"Because all you do is go out and win awards. What do you even win them for?" Taeyong asked.

"I build stuff," Tony shrugged.

"Like cars?" Mark asked, looking at his array of different cars that lined the walls of his garage. Then at the broken one that Tony had fallen in when he was 'flying'.

Tony looked at the young boy with a soft smile, "You could say that."

Taeyong scoffed, "You speak in riddles old man."

Both Mark and Johnny laughed when Tony picked up Taeyong and started to tickle him, the younger laughing loudly in the almost quietly buzzing lab. "You have quite the tongue," he said.

Taeyong panted once he was set down and pouted, finding a post-it note and quickly scribbling out 'you have quite the tongue' because no, he didn't understand that saying. But yes, he will google it just to find out and maybe, he might use it on someone else one day. He looked back at Tony with wide and doe-like eyes, watching his father talk to Johnny and Mark about their future aspirations. With Mark asking what aspirations meant and for Jarvis to pipe up and give him the google definition, which did not help. Mark still didn't understand, in which, Jarvis then dumbed it down of the poor six year-old.

"I don't know, I wanna have a big house like this one day," Johnny said, spreading his arms out in front of him.

Tony hummed, "You could be a businessman like me," he said.

"You're a car maker," Mark said.

"Mechanic," Taeyong corrected.

Mark waved his hand in the air like royalty brushing away Taeyong's long and complicated words, "car maker," he repeated. Taeyong simply rolled his eyes and let the younger be. One day, he too, would be nine years of age and would understand what the word 'mechanic' meant. But, there was also the underlying fact that Johnny didn't really understand the word mechanic, but we won't get into that.

"What do you want to be?" Tony asked Mark. Everyone's attention turning to the youngest in the room. Mark, never having that much attention in his life turned red, before he squeaked out a small word. "What?" Tony asked again, confused.

"Flying," Marl repeated a bit louder.

"Oh, you want to fly?" Taeyong asked.

Johnny laughed but Tony smiled. "That's pretty cool kid."

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Obadiah chuckled and set the pizza down on the table, watching Taeyong quickly open it and grab a slice, biting into the greasy mess with an exaggerated moan. "I love you," he said.

"Me? Or the pizza?"

Taeyong waved his hand dismissively, "What's the difference?"


	6. Let's take this baby for a test drive!

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony is slowly trying to get Obadiah on his side in changing the company to fit his own ideals; moving towards arc reactor energy. Whilst he's doing this, he's also trying to re-build a better version of the Iron-Man suit he made the last time he was in that cave. Taeyong catches on very quickly to his father's work and must promise not to tell anyone. 

However, it seems like Mark and Johnny are never too far from Taeyong anyway. 

***

Taeyong sat down on his father's work bench again, his interest lying on Tony Stark. His father was standing in the middle of the garage, working on the suit, going for a big test run. It was to see if he could fly or not, Taeyong had a camera in his hands and was in charge of filming the process. “Ready for the big moment you two?” Tony questioned, looking over at Taeyong. 

“Ready!” the younger boy shouted.

“All sensors ready, sir,” Jarvis responded. 

Taeyong giggled as he watched his father breath in deeply, “We’ll start off easy. Ten percent.” Tony activated the hand-controlled joysticks in his suit. Shooting up so suddenly, Taeyong had trouble trying to make his camera follow along. Taeyong watched him flip out of the camera’s frame and crash into his car. The younger boy quickly scrambled off the desk and ran with the camera diligently in his grasp. He watched as one of his father’s machines quickly sprayed him down and then waited until it was clear to come close. 

“You alright?” Taeyong asked, filming right in Tony’s face. The billionaire looked up at Taeyong and the camera and groaned, before lying back down again. 

“The flight yielded excellent data, Sir,” Jarvis announced. Taeyong snickered.

“Great. I, uhh, think I know what this needs.” 

Taeyong looked back down at his dad and cut the camera. 

***

Rhodey had been Tony’s friend since his college days. With Rhodey doting on the younger because of Tony’s rather reckless escapades. Tony had the car, the apartment, the grades and the girls. Rhodey had the car keys, the apartment keys, the study sessions and a friendly relationship with all his lecturers. Without Rhodey, Tony probably wouldn’t have survived his MIT experience. 

Taeyong had taken quite the likeness toward Rhodey, loving him like a cool uncle. The young boy was always excited whenever Rhodey came to visit because he always had a piece of chocolate to give to the younger. Now though, Tony and Taeyong were both making a quick stop over to the older's workplace. Taeyong was convinced that if he were there, he would be able to catch his cooler uncle without chocolate. 

When they reached the army compound, it turned out that Rhodey was in the middle of trying to teach a class. “Manned or unmanned,” Rhodey called over the army cadets lining in a form to listen to their superior. “Which is the future of air combat? For my money, no drone, no computer will ever trump a pilot’s instincts. His reflexes, his judgement—”

“What’s he saying?” Taeyong whispered, looking up at his dad, holding on the older man’s sleeve. 

“I don’t know,” Tony shrugged. Taeyong grinned and watched as his father interrupted Rhodey’s speech, “Why not take it a step further?” his voice boomed in the giant compound. Taeyong watched as the cadets all looked back at them. 

“Uncle Rhodey!” Taeyong shouted in glee, running quickly to the man and jumped into his arms, laughing. The other cadets gave the younger a smile. “I know you don’t have chocolate now, because you didn’t even know I was—” Taeyong was shut up quickly, when Rhodey pulled out a spare eclair from his pocket. “H-how?” 

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” he teased, letting the younger down who was now staring at the chocolate like it was magic. “What are you doing here? I’m sure you don’t know much about planes and pilots, Tony.”

“Why not a pilot without a plane?” he smirked. 

“That I’d like to see,” he stared at his friend for longer, “look who fell out of the sky…” referring to Tony’s escape, which blew everyone away. 

“Who wants to take these apart and put them back together?” he said, this time towards the pilots that were interrupted from their lesson. 

Rhodey quickly turned back to the people he was teaching, “All right. Let’s wrap it up!” he called, watching them slowly disperse. 

Tony whistled, making Taeyong look up from his chocolatey goodness. In which, the younger couldn’t actually open the packet properly and had decided to simply eat the chocolate with the packaging hanging tightly between his teeth and finger tips. Taeyong raced up to his father, letting Tony pat his back and look back up at the two adults. 

“I didn’t think I’d be seeing you for a while,” Rhodey said.

“Why not?”

“Figured you’d need a little time.”

Tony sighed, “why does everyone think I need time?”

Rhodey placed a hand on his shoulder, a reassuring smile making its way onto his lips. “You’ve been through a lot, thought you should get your head straight.” 

“I’ve got it straight,” the billionaire said with finality. “And I’m back to work.”

“Really?”

“I’m onto something big. I want you to be a part of it.”

Rhodey gave out a relieved laugh, “Lots of people around here will be happy to hear that. What you said at the press conference really threw everyone.” That’s when Tony’s smile dropped. 

“I mean what I said.”

“No you don’t. You took a bad hit. It spun you around.” Both men started to stare each other down, none willing to back down until Taeyong gasped. 

“Oh no!” the younger boy shouted, looking down at his chocolatey fingers. “I’m all sticky!” he exclaimed, looking up at the two men with watery and wide eyes. His bottom lip jutted out, blinking up at Tony, “I’m sorry,” he weakly managed. 

Tony gave Taeyong a smile and picked him up, letting the much older (but surprisingly light) boy sit on his hip. Taeyong had his hands held out, whilst Tony took out his handkerchief and handed it over. Taeyong used it to wipe at his hands but slowly gave up when his hands remained sticky, no matter how much he tried to wipe away. 

Tony turned back to Rhodey, “maybe I do need a little time,” he said. 

“All right then,” Rhodey watched as Taeyong pouted, resting his head on his dad’s shoulder, whilst Tony still carried him. “Good seeing you Tony.”

“Likewise,” the billionaire said. 

“It was nice seeing you too Taeyong.”

Taeyong smiled and sat back up, “you too uncle Rhodey.” Taeyong grinned when Rhodey ruffled his hair and then gasped when he pulled out another chocolate piece out from behind his head. “How do you do that?!”

“Maybe one day I’ll tell you,” he grinned. Tony smiled and walked off, with Taeyong opening the wrapper a little more easily.

***

Taeyong was sitting and watching the television when Obadiah walked into the living room. “Obadiah!” Taeyong squealed, rushing up from the couch and running to the older man, hugging his waist. “You brought pizza! Thank god! I’m so tired of all the healthy stuff Dad keeps making me eat,” he sighed dramatically. 

Obadiah chuckled and set the pizza down on the table, watching Taeyong quickly open it and grab a slice, biting into the greasy mess with an exaggerated moan. “I love you,” he said. 

“Me? Or the pizza?”

Taeyong waved his hand dismissively, “What’s the difference?”

Obadiah bellowed out in laughter and looked over at the younger man with a small smile. “Would you mind calling your father for me?”

Taeyong nodded and raced down the stairs of the house, into the labs. He typed in the code to the busy lab and pushed the glass door with his clean hand and then immediately ducked, falling to the ground and lying flat on his stomach as his father fired one of his flight stabilisers close to the door he just came from. Taeyong heard a bunch of shouts and was immediately pulled to his feet by both Tony and Pepper.

Tony quickly bending down and making sure he was alright, “Did you get glass on you? Does anything hurt? Did anything hit you?”

Taeyong ended up giggling, “flight-stabiliser?” he asked.

Tony sighed out in relief and nodded, “Yeah…”

“Probably too much power or suspension,” Taeyong advised. He then looked down on the ground and gasped, “Ahhh! My pizza!” he cried, crouching down and picking it up, the glass sticking to the cheese. “Aw man…”

Tony and Pepper furrowed their brows, “Where did you get pizza from?” Pepper asked.

Taeyong frowned, “Huh? Oh right! Obadiah’s upstairs, he’s asking for you,” Taeyong said, looking at his dad. Tony nodded and quickly lifted up Taeyong, carrying him over the glass and then setting him down. Taeyong ran up the stairs with his greasy hand in front of him. He whizzed past Obadiah and raced into the kitchen, stepping on the stool set up and washing his hands. 

He could faintly hear the voice of his dad and Obadiah talking, piquing the young boys interest. Taeyong stepped from the stool once he finished drying his hands and looked over at his dad, who looked at Obadiah with manic energy. Pacing around the room, with his hands running through his hair. 

“This— this is the big— big idea,” Tony said, looking over at Obadiah with a hopeful glance, “It can pull the company in a whole new direction,” he said. 

“That’s great,” Obadiah smiled. “Get me the design as soon as you can. We’ve got a hungry production line that can knock out a prototype in days.”

Tony looked over at Obadiah, a little emotional. The only man who really was taking into account his stance. Even Rhodey, his best friend, had wanted Tony to revert back into his old self. But Obadiah was giving him a chance, and that’s all he needed. 

“You know, I had a moment there where I was… reluctant,” referring back to the press conference. It was all anyone could talk about, and even though Tony didn’t seem like the type to fall weak at that, he was seriously considering taking back his words. “But I know now I made the best decision. I feel like I’m doing something… right, finally.” Tony gave Obadiah the biggest smile he genuinely felt in a long time since he returned. “Thank you for supporting me in this.” 

Obadiah nodded, “Listen, I have something to talk to you about,” his tone of voice went a little lower. The older man placed his hand on Tony’s back, pulling him towards the living room window, overlooking the scenery. “I really wished you’d attended the last board meeting like I asked you to.”

“I know,” Tony nodded, “I’m sorry. What did I miss?”

Obadiah took his time in answering, “The board’s filed an injunction against you.”

Tony felt the previous happiness he just had, vanish. His face revolved around the same anxiety he felt when he returned. “W-what?”

“They claim you’re unfit to run the company and want to lock you out.”

“How the hell can they do that? It’s my name on the building!” he exclaimed, now feeling angry. “My ideas that drives that company.”

“They’re going to try. We’ll fight them, of course.”

“With the amount of stocks we own I thought we controlled the company?” Tony asked, looking confusedly at Obadiah. How was this possible?

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Somehow they pulled enough votes together. Listen, the world doesn’t share your vision, Tony. The more people have to lose, the more frightened they are of new ideas.” Obadiah tried to look at Tony, but the billionaire had shrugged him away. Turning to stare at the ground instead. Everything had just gotten a whole lot harder to handle. “Now listen, I don’t want you to get all in knots. You know how many times I protected your father from the wolves?” Tony nodded, still feeling his chest tighten and hands slightly shake from his side. “Get back to your lab and work some magic. You let me handle the board,” Obadiah said, grabbing his things and heading to the door. “Oh and Tony?” 

The billionaire turned to look at his mentor, “No more press conferences. Not right now at least.” Tony gulped slightly and nodded. Then Obadiah left, leaving Tony on his own, with a pizza box that was slowly losing its heat. But he wasn’t alone. 

Because Taeyong rounded the corner and walked up to his dad, pulling at his sleeve. Tony looked at the nine year old. 

“Wanna finish the suit together?” Taeyong asked.

Tony nodded, slowly walking in the direction of his labs when his son spoke again.  
“And Tony?” He turned to look over at Taeyong who simply gave his father a small smile. 

“I really like your vision.” 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong yawned and blinked up at his father with a grin. “It was nice being your right hand man,” he whispered.

“Couldn’t have done that without you… should I be worried that Johnny's almost going to fall out the bed?” 

“Nope, he’s just weird. I’d just leave him like that,” Taeyong said.


	7. My huckleberry friend, Moon river and me.

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony decides to tell his best friend, Rhodey about his new project. Except, Rhodey doesn't share his vision in wanting to make everything independent (read: not involve the army). The image that he's created for himself as the Merchant of Death is hard to get rid of. Now Obadiah comes to him bearing news that his own board members are trying to get rid of him in his own company. No one seems to care that Tony doesn't want to make weapons anymore, all they want is weapons. Well all except Taeyong, who very much shared his fathers vision. 

So together the both of them start to make Tony's suit.

***

Taeyong had watched his father continue to make his suit, helping him in compromising a stabiliser belt, watching his father slave away to make the partially-crohn's propulsion boots and then supported him in finding a new way to make the Mark II gauntlets. They worked much better now, and Taeyong had also been completing his homework on the side lines, so schooling really wasn't that big of an issue. In fact, it was the simpler things that Taeyong learned through Jarvis's teachings in science that spurred on new ideas for his father to use.

The two had grown significantly closer during the making of Tony's new suit. It was something for them both to work on, but also something to momentarily make them forget about what was going on in the outside world. Taeyong had also brought down Mark and Johnny with him so that they could also help in making the suit. But really, the three boys would play around in the slightly dangerous lab whilst Tony continued to work on the suit.

Taeyong was currently sitting on his father's big working chair. The boy was small enough that he made the chair look like it was going to swallow him up. Taeyong had two pillows propped on the seat, making him both taller and comfier. Something that the younger prided in, it was comfy and practical. "So what am I supposed to be doing?" Taeyong asked, looking at his dad who was now standing in his suit, still connected to various tubes and wires. He reminded the young boy of a crazy science experiment. Taeyong didn't know if it was supposed to be funny or something he should be cautious about, his father did fall and destroy one of his cars.

"You are in charge of making sure I'm doing all right, just checking on the vitals and in-flight system."

Taeyong nodded, none of that actually going into his little head, "Of course. So... when do I get to go in the suit?"

Tony looked over at Taeyong and gave him a small smile, "I'll make you one."

Taeyong grinned and nodded, "Sweet! Okay, so are you going to start flying now?"

Tony looked ahead of him, tilting his chin up and staring at the messy lab in front of him. He made the same face that he did when he was on camera, or in front of anyone that carried themselves with poise and elegance. He rendered himself as the stubborn and arrogant man he made himself to be in front of cameras. Tony Stark. The merchant of Death. With that relaying in his mind, Tony thought back to the cave. He wasn't the Merchant of Death anymore. He was going to change.

Tony fired up his boots, feeling the suit warm his body and start to slightly hover. He flexed his knuckles slightly and felt a slight heat attack his palm, the gloves started to stabilise. "We're gonna need to do something about the heat," he told Taeyong.

"Ice! Something to deflect the heat!" the younger piped up.

Tony smiled form behind the mask, "Ice indeed."

He started to tilt in the air, moving forward with slight anxiety. He didn't feel stable on the flight system quite yet, but then that faded away. He wasn't falling, he was still hovering, so with a new found confidence, the man started to 'surf' the air. Slowly maintaining his balance and getting the hang of it. "You look cool," he heard Taeyong's voice clear in the suit's mask. Tony started to venture forward, moving along the expanse of his lab. He hovered close to Taeyong who lifted his smaller hand and placed it over Tony's chest. "You're flying!" the younger gushed, a headset to big over his head as he shouted this into the mic.

Tony cringed slightly, "Little loud, bub."

"Sorry," Taeyong said nonchalantly, still looking at his dad with a sparkle in his bright, round eyes. He grinned and clapped when Tony continued to 'fly' through the lab, dodging pieces of equipment, his car collection (thank god for that) and almost had a few misses. But on the whole, he maintained most of his control. 

Tony felt, for the first time since he got out of that goddamn cave, a freeing feeling pass over his corrupted chest space. He started to chuckled, nearly laughing as he cut the propulsion and landed back in his starting zone. "Nothing to it," he whispered to himself, before the mask came off and he looked over at Taeyong. "All right. Let's get to work."

***

Taeyong was sleeping in his room again, this time though, Johnny and Mark were staying over. Johnny's body was lying haphazardly on the side of the bed, his bottom half hanging off the edge. Taeyong grinned and sat up properly in his seat, looking down at Mark, the boy was going to turn seven in a couple weeks and Taeyong and Johnny were still planning on his birthday present. Taeyong stroked Mark's hair and let the boy continue to sleep. His bed was incredibly huge, so all three boys could easily fit in.

He crawled out of his sheets and shuffled around the side of his bed to go and pick up Johnny's legs, pushing them back inside. He reached for the covers and slowly placed them on his friend. Johnny groaned and slowly yawned before blinking up at Taeyong. "Taeyong-ah? You alright?" he muttered tiredly, eyes slowly closing.

"Um hmm, just gonna get some water. Do you want any?" he asked.

"Nah," Johnny yawned one more time before he gave out the biggest exhale a nine year-old could and then fell straight back to sleep. Taeyong snickered and walked out of his room, his small feet pattering against the cold floor. Taeyong was quick to get the kitchen before he stopped and heard small clattering sounds coming from downstairs. Taeyong, already used to his father's many projects, filled up his glass with water and walked down to the labs. Sure enough, his father was standing in his suit, fixing up smaller mistakes.

The lab itself was quite dark but the suit and the computers were enough to illuminate the room. "Don't tell him I'm here,'' Taeyong whispered into the air, already knowing that Jarvis would hear his message. Taeyong walked over to his dad's work bench, slipped into his chair and then set his glass down as silently as he could, watching Tony continue to mutter things to Jarvis in order to change the suit.

Taeyong was astonished at how far the suit has been made, for one, there was now an entire suit in front of him. Not just the arms, legs, mask and chest piece. Everything finally connected together and the way that parts fit together reminded Taeyong of a puzzle. It looked really good and he was now excited. Completely forgetting that he was supposed to be hiding from his father.

"Standby for calibration," Tony ordered. The gauntlets and boots both fired up and Taeyong watched in awe as his father started to rise before— "Whoa!" He lost balance and fell back onto the hood of another one of his cars. The Saleen this time. Taeyong flinched as the alarms went off, watching his dad kill the sound. "We really don't need to wake up Taeyong and his friends."

Taeyong snorted, "too late for that."

Tony flinched, looking over at Taeyong who was propped up on his chair. He blinked for a second thinking that his sleep-deprived mind was playing tricks on him, "How long... have you been there?"

Taeyong shrugged, "I don't know. I wanted water," he lifted up his glass and slowly drank the water inside, still keeping eye contact with his father's mask.

"Go back to bed," his dad ordered, incredulously.

Taeyong shook his head, "No can do. I'm awake now, also you should really keep it down. Johnny's a really light sleeper."

"We should probably take this outside then," Tony said, referring back to his flight task.

That's when Jarvis (clearly the only voice of reason here) piped up, "I must strongly caution against that. There are terabytes of calculations still needed—"

"We'll do them in flight," Tony waved off, standing back up.

"Sir, the suit has not even passed a basic wind test."

Taeyong tsked, "Jarvis you're a buzzkill. I wanna see Tony fly—"

"It's dad to you," Tony reminded. "Also, I agree with the squirt—"

"It's Taeyong to you," the younger quipped back.

"Sir, I must really advise against—"

"Jarvis," both the Stark's said at the said time.

"I'll be fine," Tony said, stretching out in his suit. "Besides, you're coming with me. Taeyong, stay on the headset." Taeyong nodded, picking up the too-big-for-him headset and set it atop his small hair. Tony watched as Taeyong started to type along on his computer and then turned to his dad, giving him a thumbs up. Tony returned it and walked to the balcony, started to fly out of the building. The mask came back to life with everything ahead of him. Tony looked down at his own health and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he started to go faster and higher.

"I suggest you allow me to employ Directive Four," Jarvis advised.

"Whatever floats your boat Jarvis."

"Whoa! I can see everything!" a voice squeaked through the receivers. It was Taeyong.

"How're you doing Taeyong?"

"I'm great, it's like I'm flying with you!" he laughed happily. "Try go higher, you're still a little unsteady against the wind," Taeyong said.

"Nice, knew you'd be a good right-hand man."

"What's a right-hand man?" Taeyong asked.

Tony smiled, "someone who's always next to me."

There was a pause for a bit before Taeyong started to talk again, "Well it's a good thing I'm here then. You need to tuck, roll and pretend you're lying flat."

Tony arched his brows but did as instructed and laughed as he flew faster and with more balance. "How did you know that?"

"It's a little secret," Taeyong grinned, sitting on his dad's chair, watching everything from the holographic computer screen. Taeyong looked over at the other screen next to the main one; where he quickly put on a video from Tinkerbell, watching how the fairies in the film were flying. "Yep! My own little secret," he said.

Tony grinned, having full control over the suit. He managed to pull a few turns and swishes along the ribbons of headlights over civilian life before he pulled back and flew over the ocean by his own house. Lowering himself and letting his blasters splash the water around him. Letting out a big whoop, Tony laughed like a kid on a roller coaster. With Taeyong watching him and smiling from the seat he was on.

"The moon, you see that Taeyong?" Tony asked, looking up as he flew higher and higher into the air.

Taeyong nodded, "Can we go that high?" the nine year-old asked, not having much thought about the lack of oxygen levels and knowledge of how far up it really was.

"We can see," Tony responded by starting to fly higher and higher to the moon. Watching it get closer and closer.

"Power at fifteen percent," Jarvis said, "Recommend you descend and re-charge sir."

Taeyong lifted himself up from his chair and looked over at the suit vitals, watching the battery drain quicker and quicker as his father went higher and higher. "Tony? You're losing a lot of battery power."

"Power at five percent. Threshold breached—"

Suddenly the power stopped and Taeyong was left staring at a blank screen. Worry started to fill his body, "Jarvis? Jarvis what happened?"

"You're father has gone too high. The suit couldn't retain the temperature at which he was ascending."

"Can you connect back to him?" Taeyong asked, starting to reboot the connection between the headset and his dad's suit manually.

"Temporary power restored." Jarvis said, Taeyong watched his dad start to free fall back down. "Descend immediately."

"I'm going to control the suit for a bit," Taeyong informed his dad before taking the lead. Mimicking the controls like he would during the flight games he would play with Mark and Johnny at his house. Except this time, he couldn't just let his character fall because that would mean the literal death of his own dad.

"Jarvis," Taeyong heard his dad call, "I think we should probably talk about direction four."

"May I remind you, the suit feeds off the same power source as your life-support. A zero-drain of RT will likely kill you."

"What?!" Taeyong shouted.

"He's a downer, Taeyong. Don't listen to Jarvis, still appreciate the heads-up," he sarcastically replied. "I'm fine to take the controls now Taeyong."

"Cool," Taeyong let go and watched as his father started to hover over his estate on his own. Probably somewhere above the lab. Instead of a much more graceful landing, Tony fell through the roof of his mansion, plunging through the foyer roof and crashed right into the ceiling of his garage. Taeyong flinched, pressing his back into the chair as he watched his dad crush the Shelby Cobra, which was right next to his other two damaged cars.

Taeyong took his water, and jumped out of his dad's seat, untangling the headset from himself before padding to his dad. The mask fell open, landing just besides Taeyong's feet as the younger climbed up the car and sat right on his father's lap. "Water?" he asked.

Tony looked at Taeyong for a second before sighing out and nodding. "Let's do some upgrades. First though, someone definitely needs to go to bed."

***

Taeyong let his dad carry him on his back, the fatigue of night taking him by surprise. The night was still and calm, and when they stepped out of the lab, Taeyong was already tired. The young boy rested his head on Tony's shoulder, whilst his dad entered his room. "There's a hole somewhere in the house isn't there?" Taeyong quickly hummed, eyes closed as he asked his father the obvious question.

"Probably. I'll get someone to fix them."

"How many are there?" Taeyong asked, slipping off his dad's shoulder and crawling back into his bed.

"Three? Maybe four, I didn't really think to count."

Taeyong nodded, never realising that his father had tucked the duvet under his feet due to his sleepiness. Taeyong yawned and blinked up at his father with a grin. "It was nice being your right hand man," he whispered.

"Couldn't have done that without you... should I be worried that Johnny's almost going to fall out the bed?"

"Nope, he's just weird. I'd just leave him like that." Tony looked closely at Taeyong and quietly pecked the younger's forehead.

"Goodnight bub."

"Night dad," Taeyong whispered, feeling Mark turn over in his sleep and place a hand over his face. Taeyong tiredly pushed the younger one away.

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

“Um… your car, Sir?” the boy awkwardly pointed to Tony’s car.

The billionaire looked down at the metal name tag the boy was wearing, Tommy. He fetched his keys out and threw it to the boy, watching him scramble to watch it in his silk, white gloves. “Be careful with her,” Tony said, walking away. 

“Y-Yes! Mr Stark,” the boy called out.


	8. Finding out Who the Loyal Ones are

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes 

Taeyong and Tony both continue to work on the suit together. What other people would call a dangerous situation to put a nine year-old boy in, the two would turn around and argue is a relatively close bonding session. Taeyong wakes up form his little sleepover with Johnny and Mark to help his father start flying, and flying they do. Taeyong in the safety of Tony's lab. Which is great because the genius managed to crash his suit through three ceilings in his mansion.

The suit seems to need a few more adjustments before it's finally finished. 

***

Tony was in the workshop, completing the final design for the suit, also making a few add-ons for the flight sequence but other than that, the suit was going really well. It was weird, working on the suit without Taeyong occasionally adding in his rather limited scientific input or just having him on the side, completing his homework. The younger was staying over at Johnny and Mark’s place, having a sleepover with the boys, whilst Tony continued to stay down in his lab, all cooped up on his own. Rather sad to be honest. 

The suit was hanging neatly on its own platform whilst Tony started to work on the fastening the terminal through the holographic screen in front of him. The screens were alive and scrolling a lot of data, with the genius quickly glanced over. His own plasma television was low in the background, making more light whilst also adding in some sense of sound. Other than the deafening music of ACDC that Taeyong hadn’t found a taste in liking. Tony was going to have to do something about his son’s taste in music. 

“That was quite dangerous, Sir.” Jarvis said in reference to the flying test that Tony had succeeded in completing a week ago. “May I remind you, if the suit loses power, so does your heart.”

“Yeah, and it doesn’t have a seat belt either,” Tony said, scrolling through the data in front of him. “A few issues: main transducer felt sluggish at plus forty altitude. Same goes for hull pressurization. I’m thinking icing might be a factor,” Tony told his A.I. system. “It seems like Taeyong’s idea of ice helped with the heat, but now we need to do something about the actual ice when I’m that high in the atmosphere.”

“Are you saying you’re going to be trying to fly higher against, Sir?”

Tony slowed down with his work and sighed, “You never know Jarvis. Give me something here.”

“The suit isn’t rated for high altitude. You’re expanding eight percent power just heating and pressurizing.” 

“Re-configure using the gold-titanium alloy from the Seraphim Tactical Satellite. It should ensure fuselage integrity to 50 thousand feet, while maintaining power-to-weight ratio,” he said. 

“Shall I render, utilizing proposed specifications?” Jarvis asked.

Tony spun in his chair, sitting back and letting his bones ache into the chair, “wow me.” Displayed on the screen in front of him, was the Mark III prototype, being built by Jarvis with all of Tony’s instructions in mind. The final product appeared on the screen before the mechanical elements were to take place by robots and helpful hands. It was an all-gold version of the Mark III. Tony stared at the suit for a second before humming, “bit ostentatious, don’t you think?” 

Tony’s eyes flickered back over to his cars, the three that were damaged. He winced thinking about the repairs, and then remembered hearing Taeyong interest in wanting to fix it up. Maybe that could be another project once the suit was made. Tony looks down at his hot-rod and motorcycle. “Add a little red, would you?” he told his A.I.

“Trying to stand out, Sir?”

Tony didn’t answer back, instead his attention was directed to the TV. The local entertainment Reporter was standing outside the SM Hall. The mechanic’s arm reached out to grab the remote, he clicked on the volume and let it turn up before throwing it haphazardly on his work space. 

The reporter was another white, blonde woman with an outstretched smile it almost looked like she was straining. Her eyes sparkled along with the jewelled dress she was wearing, standing in front of the building. “Tonight’s Red-Hot Red Carpet is here at the SM Entertainment Hall, where Tony Stark’s third annual benefit for the Firefighter Family Fund had become the go-to charity gala on L.A’s high-society calendar. But this great cause is only part of the story—”

The lab bagan springing alive as Jarvis prepared the various machinery. Tony looked over at his work, making a ‘shushing’ motion with his hand before turning his attention back to the reporter on screen. The lab was rendered a little more quiet, whilst her words were relayed back to viewers. “—the man whose name graces the gold-lettered invitations hasn’t been seen in public since his highly controversial press conference, and rumours abound.” Tony rolled his eyes at this. “Some say Stark is suffering from post traumatic stress and hadn’t left his bed in weeks.” 

Tony decided he didn’t care about what the woman was talking about then turned his attention back to the Mark III. The suit started to come alive as Jarvis built it in front of him. “The work could take till morning to complete, Sir.” 

“Good,” Tony got up and grabbed one of his many keys, walking out of the basement, “I should come up for air anyway.”

***

It did come as a surprise to many people when Tony’s easily recognisable Audi-R8’s rolled out in front of the red carpet and he walked out of his car dressed in a sharp suit with his sun glasses perched effortlessly on his face. A young man, probably new by the looks of it, came over to Tony with his face red and limbs looking like they were going to knock against each other. “Um… your car, Sir?” the boy awkwardly pointed to Tony’s car.

The billionaire looked down at the metal name tag the boy was wearing, Tommy. He fetched his keys out and threw it to the boy, watching him scramble to catch it in his silk, white gloves. “Be careful with her,” Tony said, walking away. 

“Y-Yes! Mr Stark,” the boy called out. 

Tony walked up the steps of the red carpet to the grand hall, smirking as he heard many camera flash and people shout his name out. Tony found the man he was waiting for, all dressed in a crisp and clean white suit. Looking more mature and well mannered than Tony’s young and carefree suit gave off. Obadiah turned around when he saw that people were calling out Tony’s name, staring in bewilderment as Tony slowly walked up the rest of the steps and stood next to him. “What are you doing here?” he laughed, “I thought you were going to lay low,” he smiled.

Tony grinned, taking off his sunglasses, the cameras flashing even more now than ever. “I thought it was about time to start showing my face again,” he grinned. 

Obadiah gave a short nod, “Let’s just take it slow okay?” Placing a fatherly hand on Tony’s back and patting him slightly, “I got the board right where we want them,” he whispered, leaning in closer so no one would pick up. 

Tony breathed in a sigh of relief, “Great.” The other news reporters and journalists still continued to shout for him, but he didn’t want to deal with that. Taking into consideration Obadiah's wishes, Tony decided to take it slow and just enjoy himself. “See ya inside,” he smiled, “lot’s to talk about.” With that statement in finality, Tony headed inside to the party. 

He walked in confidently with patrons whispering and glancing back at him. The man settled himself at the bar, maybe a drink would loosen him up? “Mr Stark.” Tony turned to his right, finding a man in all business attire with a stoic expression standing just beside him. “Agent Coulson,” he introduced. 

“Oh…” Tony pursed his lips, “was I supposed to meet you here?”

“No, but you haven’t been returning my calls. This is serious, we need something on the books or I’ll have to go official with you,” Coulson responded. 

Tony nodded, not caring too much and continued to stare out at the crowd until he spotted a familiar ginger haired woman. Pepper, and she looked really nice. Huh? What was she even doing at the party? “Yes, you’re right,” Tony said, looking back at Coulson before turning his attention to Pepper. Not wanting her out of his sight for long, “I’m going to handle this right now. Let me check with my assistant,” he nodded towards Pepper before beelining to her and leaving the agent to simply stare at his back. It seemed like Pepper was not the only person that was surprised to see him, she gasped lightly when he gave a charming Stark smile. 

“Miss Potts — can I have five minutes? You look… you look like you should always wear that dress,” he said, staring at her figure. 

“Thanks,” Pepper awkwardly smiled, “it was a birthday present… from you.”

“I have great taste, care you dance?” Tony didn’t let Pepper talk before he already grabbed her hand and whisked her away onto the dance floor. Oh that agent person was going to be so thrilled by Tony’s actions. He held her close, not enough that it made them still look like they were just forced to do so. Pepper was staring at anyone but Tony whilst he smirked at her flustered reactions. “I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable? You seem very uncomfortable,” he blatantly said. 

“No, I always forget to wear deodorant—” at this Tony arches his brow, amused— “and dance with my boss in front of everyone I’ve ever worked with in a chiffon dress.”

“Would it help if I fired you?” he teased, watching her confidence come back.

He looked up at him and smiled, “You wouldn’t last a week without me.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“What’s your social security number?”

“Um…” Tony gave a cheeky smile, “11.”

“11?” Pepper grinned teasingly. 

“Yep,” Tony grinned wider. 

“You’re missing quite a few numbers in there.”

“That’s why I have you, to remember my other numbers,” he said softly, staring down at her.

Pepper gave him a hesitant smile, “119-64-5484,” she whispered. Tony arched his brow, “your social security number. It’s 119-64-5484,” she repeated.

Tony’s grin never seemed to slip off his face, “Wanna get out here?” 

“Yep please.”

And so they did. With Pepper and Tony both out on the building balcony, overlooking the city. “I’m sorry,” Pepper quickly said, “I was so uncomfortable. I hate being the center of attention like that and that’s why this one time in high school I was supposed to be in a play… no, never mind… but you know that’s why I never like, wanted to have a big wedding… you know, because I thought everyone would be looking at me wearing a dress. Oh,” her widened when she realized how badly she was rambling. Whilst Tony silently watched her with a snicker threatening to escape. “No, no… I’m not saying, like, ‘wedding.’ No, not like that. I’m just saying you know—” Tony rolled his eyes playfully and brought her into his arms, planting the faintest peck over her red lips. He let go whilst Pepper took a step back, staring at him with wide eyes. They both just stared at each other for a quick minute before Tony opened his mouth. 

“Can I get you another glass of wine?” he asked.

“A vodka martini,” she whispered, “extra dry. With extra olives, as soon as possible.” 

Tony nodded, “okay.” Tony turned around, ready to walk when Pepper called for him. “And Tony…” He turned his head, looking towards her. “I’m not a cheeseburger.”

The billionaire smiled, “No… you’re not a cheeseburger.” 

When Tony returned to the bar he was thankfully not ambushed by Agent Coulson. Instead it was the same news reporter he slept with that one time… yikes that sounded bad. “Mr Stark!” she plastered on a fake smile, slipping on front of him as he gave her the same smile. “I was hoping I could get a reaction from you.”

“How’s panic?” Tony asked, turning to the bartender, who placed his order down in front of him. 

“I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity,” she said, her smile slipping off her face. 

Tony sighed, he didn’t know what she was referring to. “Hey, they just put my name on the invitatio—” He was cut off when she thrust a file of photos in his chest. Tony held them close and opened them quietly, looking at the photos with a stone face. “Is this what you call accountability?” she asked, arching her brow with challenge. 

“When were these taken?” he questioned. No tint of playfulness in his voice, he stared back at her. 

She gulped slightly, “yesterday. Good P.R. move, you tell the world you’re a changed man, even I believed you.” The photos contained various Stark's machine guns, RPGs, all the weaponry. In the background lay strewn bodies and burnt towns. Tony’s eyes focused on the Ten Rings insignia, the men who took him. His weapons were still being sent to the people who were destroying lives. 

“I didn’t approve this shipment.” 

“Well your company did,” she said. 

“Come with me.” They both head out the front door. 

***

Tony strode out with full confidence and faced the paparazzi in front of him with vigor and anger he suppressed since the first time he came out from the cave. “I made some promises I’m not going to be able to keep. I suggest you pull all your money out of Stark Industries immediately—” 

Before he could continue on with his speech, Obadiah was there, pulling him back and steering the genius back to the entrance. “Is this a tick for you?” the flashing of the cameras and the shouts of journals already retelling his previous sentences to their news branches. “Whenever you have a feeling, you start going to all the people who don't trust you, who don’t protect you. They’re going to put on everything you say!” the older man was seething at this point and Tony found himself not really giving a shit.

“Wait a minute. I gotta ask you something. I’m dead serious about this. I’m not kidding. Am I losing my mind or is Pepper really cute? Do you think she’s attractive and interesting, or is it just that her hair is down? I’ve been out of the game for a while…” Tony clicked his tongue. 

“Are you out of your mind?! You’re messing with the ‘guys in the rooms,’ we’re talking about the billion dollar interest, the world order—”

“I’m not worried about that right now—” Tony shrugged.

“You should be. You’ll disappear. I can’t protect you against people like that—?” Obadiah and Tony looked over at the paparazzi that had started to ascend the stairs, their own voices automatically going lower. “Do you mind!” Obadiah shouted at the camera’s before turning to Tony. “Tony don’t be so naive.”

Tony felt his face turn to stone, his glared at Obadiah. “Naive? I was naive before, when I was growing up and they told me don’t ever cross this line, this is how we do business. In the meantime we’re double-dealing under the table,” he hissed. “We don’t even represent the United States.” 

Obadiah rolled his eyes, “Tony, you’re a child.”

The billionaire took a step back, feeling his world crashing. “You don’t believe I can turn this company around, do you?”

“You’ve got about as much control over things as much as child riding in the backseat of your father’s car with a red plastic steering wheel in your hand.” 

Tony still held on, even though the only person in his life who seemed to believe in him was just another person that never really cared. “Maybe I’ll just get out of the car.”

“You’re not even allowed in the car.” Obadiah looked back at the paparazzi before he said his next words with careful consideration. “I’m the one who’s filing the injunction against you.” Tony felt his blood boil and he charged at Obadiah. Both men shoving against each other until security broke them apart. Obadiah patting his suit down whilst Tony still had security men holding him back. “It’s the only way I could protect you.” The rest of Obadiah’s men smile at Tony with steely eyes before Obadiah turned and walked into his waiting car. 

“This is going to stop!” Tony shouted, praying that it would. 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong sat in his father’s chair, wearing the headsets as per usual with a packet of potato chips in his hands as he watched his father fight through the screen. “I mean I can have this conversation, you really can’t— there’s someone behind you,” Taeyong added, before taking a bite out his snack. 

“Are you… eating?” 

“I’m hungry,” Taeyong shrugged.


	9. Going for our First Test Drive

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony decides to attend one of the many parties funded by Stark Industries. He had been on the lay-low for a while now and it's about time he's made himself more public. In doing so, he runs into Christine, a reporter who accuses him of selling behind closed doors to the people that kidnapped him. 

It's there that Tony finds out the truth, Obadiah is behind everything. 

***

The news reporter seemed to be doing a good job in assessing what was currently taking place in Gulmira. Taeyong was wearing a headset whilst he watched his father work on his gauntlet controllers and then turned back to the plasma television mounted on the wall, which was a live feed of what was occurring in the broken city. Breaking News! Tragedy in Gulmira. 

“The ten mile drive to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into Hell, into a modern-day Heart of Darkness.” Taeyong arched his brow and snickered at the reporters' overly dramatic monologue of what was going on. 

“Paying attention?” Tony asked.

Taeyong quickly scrambled and put the headset mic closer to his mouth, “Yep! Your levels look stable.” 

The journalist continued to report. “Simple farmers and herders, from their homes at the butt of Western rifles and the turrets of modern tanks. Displaced from their lands by Warlords and insurgent groups emboldened by their newfound power—a power fueled by high-tech weapons easily purchased with Poppy money on the black market—and further destabilizing a fragile region which for decades has been a tinderbox of tribal feuding and ethnic hatred—” 

Taeyong flinched when his father aimed the gauntlet at some light fixtures and gave them a good RT blasts. They sparked and fell from the ceiling, crashing over the floor, whilst the young boy simply rolled his eyes and pulled up a notes page on the holograph. “Type in shopping list: light bulbs.”

The News continued, “the villagers have been taken shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find — in the ruins of other razed scrublands, or in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant. Our translator relayed to us one human tragedy after another. A seven year-old boy—” Taeyong sat up and lifted himself up with the help of his father’s desk. His eyes widened as a graphic image of a boy, only a year older than Mark cried around dead bodies whilst holding out an old photo like a crumpled ‘lost’ poster. “—thin as a scarecrow, clutching yellowed photographs and holding them out to anyone who would stop, with a child’s simple question: where are my mother and father?”

Tony adjusted his gauntlet again. This time Taeyong noticed that his father had raised the power level, blasting a window in the lab, shattering the glass and managed to also knock one of Taeyong’s least favourite paintings off the wall. “A woman, begging for news of her husband, who’d been kidnapped by insurgents—either forced to join their militia, to be shot without reason—with no political will or international pressure, there is little hope for their newly-formed refugee’s. Refugees who can only Wonder one thing: is the world watching?” 

Taeyong flinched and fell back in his father’s big chair when Tony blasted his gauntlet at the TV. “Tony!” he shouted, “I was watching that!”

Both Taeyong and Tony stared at each other in silence with the younger glaring at his dad for shooting at the TV. Pepper quickly came inside, “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked exasperated, looking around at the broken lab. 

“Get my home in Dubai ready. I want to throw a party. Taeyong, you stay with Mark and Johnny for a while—”

“I’m staying here,” Taeyong said, still glaring at his dad. “Jarvis, add a new TV to the shopping list would you?” he spat out, taking off the big headset and thrusting it on the table before jumping off the chair and stomping out of the lab. 

Pepper watched Taeyong’s figure retreat up the steps, whilst Tony continued to stare around the place in shambles. “Miss Potts, do as I say.”

The assistant nodded, “Yes… Mr Stark.”

***

Tony had taken the chance in creating a grand Stark party in his house. His guests were fine on their own and with that distraction, he got into his new suit and flew to Gulmira. Gulmira was a tricky place to distinguish. Like the news reporter said, the political disadvantage that the area was lacking, meant that it really couldn’t be helped by the American government system. There was no one to help, until Tony made it his very first mission. 

A terrified mother lay huddled around her four children, in a small and dark cave. Her arms trembled beside her as she tried to cover them all, protecting as many as she could. From her perspective, she could make the faint outline of light streaming into their hiding space. The sounds of gun fires and violence resonated in the air, as every one of them tried to remain silent. Ragged tents and shanties lay bare against the blackened soldiers of hate. Sick and twisted smirks of satisfaction were plastered over their faces with each grenade that they tossed into rat-holes and with each body that fell to the ground lifelessly. 

The mother watched as one of her children, the oldest darted from her arms. She cried out to him in a foreign language, but stayed protecting her other three. The oldest boy ran into the alleyway, darting back and forth, and heading into open field. His own no man’s land. The boys bravery came out in a shrill cry “Arto! ARTO!” he screamed, a dog running into his outstretched arms. The boy picked up his dog and turned to run back into the cave with his family, but found four of the soldiers in his way. 

They shouted for him to drop the puppy but he refused. One of the men cocked his gun, a brief zip across the sky distracted him but he turned back to the boy. Ready to end his life when a thud landed from behind them. Each men cocked their own weapons and turned back, to see Tony in his suit. Tony generated his classic Granov fist and smashed it into the ground, the single RT blast making them fly 50 yards away. Tony quickly caught the kid and his dog who were close to becoming just like the men and set them down quickly. 

Tony turned to the next man, who kept firing his bullets at the suit around him. “You don’t learn do you?” he said, grabbing the man by his collar and throwing him like a ragdoll into a heap of bricks. The previous boy moved over to watch this mysterious metal man with a better view, Tony now being showered with bullets of various men coming into all different directions. Tony started to fight, pulverising the men with his RT blasts and fighting with his mechanical fists until he’s left with militant men all lying around him. The refugee child from before came out of the covers, watching the soldier who ran from Iron Man in fear. 

One brave man stepped forward with an RPG, ready to fire when Tony picked him up by the scruff of his clothes. His gauntlet ready in waiting to blast the man’s face off before he cried out in desperation. “Geneva Convention! Article Three! Geneva Convention—” Tony rolled his eyes and tossed the man away, watching him scramble up and run away in a pathetic manner. 

That’s when Tony Stark was jarred by a sniper’s bullet. The bullet had managed to lodge itself in the joint of his suit. So someone apparently had really good aim. “Jarvis, find who did that—”

“You’re gonna need to activate the thermal controls dad,” a familiar voice rang out in Tony’s ear. 

“Taeyong?! You should be asleep!” Tony shouted, the thermal silhouette of a rooftop sniper in his vision. 

“It’s only the afternoon over here in California. You really need to check time zones—”

“We’re not having this conversation right now—” Tony blasted another soldier and used his miniature missiles to streamline and go for the sniper. 

Taeyong sat in his father’s chair, wearing the headsets as per usual with a packet of potato chips in his hands as he watched his father fight through the screen. “I mean I can have this conversation, you really can’t— there’s someone behind you,” Taeyong added, before taking a bite out his snack. 

“Are you… eating?” 

“I’m hungry, maybe you should put in fruit loops or something in the suit,” Taeyong shrugged. “I would.” 

“Because I really have enough room to carry snacks in this suit.”

Taeyong shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know Tony. All I’m saying is that if I had a suit I’d carry fruit loops in it. Sounds like a good investment to me.”

“That’s the wrong phrase bud,” Tony groaned, too distracted that he got hit with a— “a pole? Seriously?” he grabbed the offensive object from the soldiers hand and used it to whack the man’s head. “Yeah, should probably ice that.”

Taeyong furrowed his brows and looked over at the screen from an establishing shot, “Um… you have like three incoming from your right? Left?” Taeyong stopped and made an ‘L’ shape with his fingers and then back up at the screen, “Definitely you’re right.” 

“Thanks,” Tony blasted them with his repulsors and then scanned the area. “Do you see—”

“Nope,” Taeyong informed. “You can get out there now.” 

“Good, when I’m back we need to have a very serious conversation about you snooping around in my lab.”

“Our lab now, old man,” Taeyong grinned. “And Jarvis’s of course.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Jarvis' voice rang out. Taeyong grinned and looked over at the satellite’s feed of the situation. 

He then grabbed the TV remote, ready to turn it on and find out about the latest updates with Gulmira when he came face to face with a wall and a few wires, because someone just had to go and blast the TV. “I still can’t believe you destroyed the TV, now how am I supposed to watch what’s going on?” he whined into the headset. 

“I’m sorry?” Tony said, flying out of the city and letting his inflight system take more control in direction. “Jarvis, plot a course for home.”

“You’re coming back?” Taeyong asked, excited.

“Back to Dubai. I’ll take the first flight out in the morning.” 

Taeyong pouted, slipping back into the chair with a slight humph. He looked over at the viewfinder from his dad’s perspective, watching the horizon fully come to beam as morning over where he was started. Taeyong then watched from the corner of his eye and called out from someone. 

“Incoming call, it’s an emergency, Sir.” 

Tony and Taeyong both held the same expression, one of slight shock but hesitant. “What are you going to do?” Taeyong asked.

Tony hesitated but nodded to himself, “Put it through, Jarvis.” The call went through, “yeah?”

“Tony, it’s Rhodey.” Both Tony and Taeyong sighed out in relief, “What the hell’s that noise?” 

“I’m in the convertible. Not the best time—” 

“Hi uncle Rhodes!” Taeyong shouted into the ear piece. 

He heard a chuckle come from Rhodey before a pause, “What a minute— Taeyong I thought you were in California? Tony, are you in Dubai?” 

“Not anymore,” Tony quickly excused. “Seriously, not the best time.” 

“I need a quick ID. What do you know about unnamed combat robotics, with air-ground capabilities?” Taeyong returned to satellite view of his father and sucked in a huge breath. 

“We have two coming our way,” he said quickly.

“What was that Taeyong?” Rhodey asked.

“Cars, there are two cars trying to overtake us,” Tony said. “But also I’ve never heard about like that. Why?”

“Because I think I’m staring at one right now, and it’s about to get blown to Kingdom Come.”

Taeyong furrowed his brows, “What does Kingdom Come mean?”

Tony gulped, “bad things Taeyong. Rhodes, it's our exit, I gotta go.”

“Bye uncle Rhod—” Taeyong pouted again, “I didn’t even get to say bye!”

“You weren’t even supposed to say anything. Thanks for blowing our cover.”

“I’m sorry,” the younger said. 

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it. What’s on me?” Tony quickly went turbo, rolling out of satellite view and into a treacherous bank of landscape.

Taeyong looked at the two jets tailing him, “Really small airplanes,” he described.  
“They’re F-22’s Sir,” Jarvis supplied. Tony quickly started to outrun the pursuing jets, going faster than he really should have. Taeyong watched with a bated breath as his father dove up and down, trying to lose his trail. Tony watched his alarms flare in bright red as a missile from one of the jets came to shoot him down. He swerved himself to the left and dodged it, before another came onto his back. “Incoming sidewinder missile in five… four… three… two…” 

A ‘countermeasures' warning attached itself to the screen and Taeyong watched as Tony opened a hatch in his suit. A chaff is released, making the sidewalker missile detonate and for Tony to be in the clear. Well slightly clear, the force pushed him back and rocketed his control over the suit, he spent the next couple second momentarily spinning in the air. Taeyong watched as his father dived then rolled into a dizzying maneuver, the F-22s still glued to this tail. 

“Sir, may I remind you that the suit can handle these maneuvers. You however, cannot.” The F-22s spray heavy cannon-fire into Tony’s path, with tracer round streaks passing him, exploding, which hit him and ricocheted off the armour. 

“Tony?” Taeyong called, watching a holographic version of the Mark III light up on one of the many screens in front of him, blaring red at armour pieces that were in need of critical repair. Or were just— you know— completely missing from the suit itself. The suit was starting to tear around Tony. 

“Jarvis— AIR BRAKES!” the brakes pop out from beside Tony and result in his slamming down to a quarter speed. The jets blowing straight past him. “Call Rhodes!”

“Tony?!” Taeyong shouted.

“I’m alright Taeyong. I’m fine,” he assured.

Taeyong shook his head, even though his father couldn’t see. “Your body says that you’re hurt. Tony,” he whined, hitting the desk in front of him. “Let me take control, please.”

“Can’t do that. Not yet anyway, bud.” 

“Tony?” Rhodey’s voice called.

“Rhodey!” Tony called, sounding a lot more alright than he did a couple seconds ago. “I had Jarvis run a check. I might have some info on that UAV. A piece of gear like that might exist. Might definitely exist—”

The next sound comes from a much more hushed and private Rhodey, “Wouldn’t happen to be red and gold, would it?”

Taeyong watched as his father stayed screwed to the underside of the jet. On the belly of the jet and making sure that he held a strong vice-like grip to it. Taeyong watched as the jet tilted to its side, his eyes widening when he saw his father hanging on for dear life. The younger boy squeaked and kneeled on the chair, face going closer to the holographic screening. 

“Son if a bitch— Tony!” The line got cut off and Taeyong hissed when he saw the jet try to shake his father off. 

“You need to fly,” Taeyong warned. 

“Sir, in two minutes there won’t be sufficient power to get home,” Jarvis warned. Taeyong watched as Tony was swayed off and hit one of the jet’s propellers, the man inside had to eject out of it quickly. 

“Dad!” Taeyong shouted, completely forgetting that he just used the term ‘dad’ for the second time in his life to address Tony. “Dad, the man!”

“Wh—what?” Tony asked, sounding dizzy and hurt.

“The man who’s falling. He hasn’t taken out his parachute yet. Fly to him! Dad go!” Taeyong shouted. Tony, still dwelling on the slight concussion he might have gotten, the fatigue of the night, the hits he had taken and then the fact that Taeyong was calling him ‘dad’ all caught up at once. He dove to the man.

“Power critical,” Jarvis warned. “Set course for home immediately.”

Tony reached the pilot in time, facing the man before he pulled the chute mechanism and it snapped open. Taeyong cheered as the pilot finally landed with safety. “You did it! Tony, you saved him!” Taeyong sat down on the chair, feeling accomplished. “Tony?” he called out.

“Jarvis, Taeyong… get me home.” 

Taeyong gave a firm nod and started to type on the computers. 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

“We’re going to be in so much trouble,” Taeyong muttered, walking out of the room with his dad and looking around for Pepper. “Where are we going—”

“The Labs, I need to get back into the suit—” 

Taeyong froze, holding onto his dad tightly. “No,” he said.


	10. Finally becoming Iron-Man

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony and Taeyong went on their very first mission together. Taeyong sitting the safety of his father's lab whilst Tony Stark flew to Gulmira and fought the bad guys. Everything seemed pretty easy to Taeyong and Tony, fight the bad guys- right the wrongs. What could possibly go wrong?

Well apparently not everything is that simple. 

***

Taeyong sat beside his father, his attention directed towards the medical equipment that was strung up and supporting his dad. “What’s that?” Taeyong asked, pointing to one of the tubes connected to his father’s arm. 

“That, is an IV drip. It’s giving me all the good things so I can get better,” Tony explained. Taeyong nodded and looked over at one of the advanced science books he had taken from his father’s office. He didn’t understand a word that was being said, but the pictures made sense. “Want to be a doctor?” his father asked.

Taeyong shook his head, “I want to fly like you do,” he smiled, closing the book and crawling over the king sized bed so that he could lie beside his dad. He looked up at the plain ceiling and exhaled a long breath. “I want to make my own suit, do you think I’ll be able to one day?” he asked, looking at his dad. 

Tony turned his head and stared down at his son, “Sure. But you can’t do what I do.”

“Why not?” Taeyong whined, “you’re a superhero Tony! You helped save that kid from Goolmia!” he defended.

“Gulmira,” Tony corrected. “I’m in pain because I helped them. You don’t want to end up like I am right now, do you?”

Taeyong looked back down at the IV needle stuck in his father’s arm. He sat up and shook his head, “Can I at least build them? Help you,” he asked. 

Tony smiled, “Of course.” 

“Good, because you really do need a pouch or something for snacks.” 

Taeyong and Tony’s attention went to the door of the bedroom, where Rhodey and Pepper entered. “Uncle Rhodey!” Taeyong cheered, crawling off the bed and running into the older man’s arms. Rhodey gave the child a tight lipped smile and pulled out a chocolate from behind Taeyong’s ear. It was a chocolate coin. Taeyong stared in wonder as he opened the chocolate and ate it quickly. 

“Look at you… what were you thinking?” Rhodey asked, looking down at his best friends state. 

“Weapons I built are being used to kill innocent people,” Tony tried to explain. 

“Can’t let that happen again…”

Rhodey shook his head and knelt beside Tony’s bed, “You can’t go around and blow up stuff every time you see something you like on TV,” he said. 

Tony returned a steely gaze at his best friend, “Yes I can.” 

Rhodey sighed and shook his head, “You got lucky, next time they’ll blow you to pieces.” 

“Next time, maybe I won’t play defence.” 

It was the way that Tony said it, that completely floored Rhodey. He got up from this position and continued to look down on Tony, but his best friend was equally as stubborn. In a situation, with wires and tubes going in and out of his body passing fluids to keep him healthy. The pain and numbness he was in currently and the bastard still had the audacity to tell Rhodey that he was going to continue getting himself hurt. Well at least he was resilient. 

Rhodey looked behind him, Pepper and Taeyong nowhere in sight, he then lowered his voice, “Do Pepper and Taeyong know about this?” Tony stared at Rhodey, probably trying to decipher what the other was going to do if he gave him an answer. Honestly, Rhodey was trying to find out himself. With a slight flicker in his eyes, Tony gave his friend a single nod. “You’ve put me in a tough spot here. What am I supposed to do?”

Tony stared at Rhodey for a few beats, “That’s up to you. I’ve made my choice—” the billionaire felt his jaw set “—I’m not going to sit on the sidelines anymore. I’m going to fight for what’s right.”

“Don’t you get it?” Rhodey tried. This was too hard, he couldn’t watch his friend die. But at the same time, he had to think about the government, the army that he worked for. His line of work meant he had to fight for his country, but if that meant fighting his best friend? “ It’s not up to us to decide,” Rhodey said with finality. 

“That’s where you’re wrong…” Tony closed his eyes, slowly drifting into unconsciousness. Rhodey sighed and walked out of the room to find Taeyong sitting by the kitchenette, drinking a carton of chocolate milk. The young boy smiled when he saw Rhodey and quickly got off the chair, skipping over. 

“Is Tony alright?” he asked, blinking up at Rhodey with innocent eyes. 

“Your dad’s going to be fine.”

Taeyong nodded before smiling again, “What did you guys talk about?”

“Nothing important,” Rhodey said. He saw the slight suspicion on Taeyong’s face but the younger didn’t say anything. Rhodey watched as the younger walked back to his father’s room and sighed softly, both Stark’s were too smart for their own good. “Hey uncle Rhodes?” he asked, turning to stare at the taller army commander. 

“Yes?” 

“You’d do anything for Tony right?” he asked, tilting his dead.

Rhodey shook his head, “sometimes I just can’t see him get hurt. It hurts me too.”  
Taeyong nodded and maybe that’s what Rhodey needed. Because Taeyong was a Stark himself, and he needed that. 

“But if it were Johnny… I’d stand by his side forever. No matter what, that’s just what brothers do, you know?” Taeyong said, staring at Rhodey with a blank face. Rhodey looked at the younger for a couple stunned seconds before he turned away and walked out of the door. Taeyong was right, Tony wasn’t just his best friend from college, he was his brother. No matter what happens, this is what he learnt from the army; you don’t just leave family behind. 

***

Just before Taeyong went inside of his father’s room, he was called on by Pepper. “Yes?” he asked, walking over the taller lady. Pepper’s hair was slightly out of place with how many times she had placed her hand over it, or used her hair for anxiety. Her fatigue was easily shown even if she didn’t think that Taeyong would notice. The boy was a lot smarter than people gave him credit for. And people did… well Obadiah and Tony did. 

Pepper walked over to her bag that was situated by their sofa. She picked out a box with brown paper wrapping and handed it to Taeyong, “You said you wanted it, so…”

Taeyong smiled and opened the package, gasping out loud, “You kept it? I thought you destroyed it when Tony asked you to?” he questioned, looking up at her with disbelief.

Pepper chuckled and sniffed, “No um— yeah he did—” she closed her eyes and nodded. “But you said you wanted to keep it, so I just cleaned it up a bit,” she explained. 

Taeyong placed it on the sofa and quickly ran to hug Pepper, wrapping his tiny arms around her waist. He buried his face in the assistants belly and squeezed her tightly, “Thank you!” his muffled shout came from under her. 

Pepper felt a tear slide down her cheek before she quickly flicked it away and patted Taeyong’s head awkwardly. “Alright now, you go quickly, put that safely away in your room and I’ll make sure your dad’s doing fine.” Taeyong nodded and grabbed the glass container that contained his father’s first arc reactor in it and fled to his room. He quickly put the arc reactor on his desk and was about to go and run to check on his father when he stopped and leant in closer to the arc reactor. 

“Proof that Tony Stark has a heart,” Taeyong read aloud. He grinned and tapped the glass container softly, “He always did.” Taeyong ran back into the living room and whizzed past Pepper who chuckled and went on to do her own work. Someone had to attend to the work Tony usually does, even if Obadiah was currently the CEO again. Taeyong walked into his father’s bedroom to see him awake again, but this time he was trying to get up on his own. 

“Tony!” Taeyong hissed, making sure that Pepper didn’t hear the commotion. 

Tony looked up with a slight buzz in his eyes, almost being caught before he realised it was just his son. “Great, you can help me.”

“What?” Taeyong questioned, “You’re supposed to be resting. I’m going to call Pepper—”

“You can’t,” he said. “She won’t let me set foot outside this room,” Tony held onto his IV drip, to steady himself as he took a couple shaky steps on his floor. Taeyong quickly raced over and held his dad’s waist, holding him up as Tony let part of his weight be carried by the surprisingly strong nine year-old. 

“We’re going to be in so much trouble,” Taeyong muttered, walking out of the room with his dad and looking around for Pepper. “Where are we going—”

“The Labs, I need to get back into the suit—” 

Taeyong froze, holding onto his dad tightly. “No,” he said.

“Taeyong—”

“No, you’re going to get hurt again. You haven’t even finished getting better— Tony no.”

“Taeyong,” Tony sighed and bent down as easiest as someone in his position could. He cupped the younger’s small face in his hands. Taeyong pouted cutely, blinking at his father with confliction. “I need to do this. You know when the hero of the story understands his destiny?” Taeyong nodded, “Well this is my story now. I’ve been fooled by too many people, too many villains. I have a chance to change that, help me.”

“If you get hurt—”

“Then it won’t be your fault. Me getting hurt is never your fault. You getting hurt is never your fault. Oh Taeyong-ah,” Tony pulled his son into a tight embrace. “None of this is ever your fault. Not what happened with your mom—” and that’s when Taeyong started to cry “—not when I ignored you for two years. When I pushed you aside because I wasn’t ready to be a father. I’m learning, I’m always learning. I’m so sorry bud,” he whispered.

“I don’t— don’t want to lose you,” Taeyong cried into his shoulder. 

“And you won’t. I pinky promise, you’ll never lose me,” he whispered, letting go and holding out his pinky in front of the child. Taeyong sniffed and wiped his eyes, quickly linking his pinky against Tony’s and pressing his thumb against Tony’s bigger one, locking that promise in place. 

“I promise I won’t leave you,” Tony said. 

“I promise I won’t leave you too,” he whispered back. “No matter what… dad.”

Tony nodded and got back up, together they both made it back into the labs with Taeyong (and Jarvis) helping Tony into his suit. The machine parts all screwing around him, the sounds were big and heavy. Taeyong had sat in his father’s seat with a pair of gigantic headsets over his face. 

“Can you hear me?” he asked.

“Loud and clear, Taeyong-ah.” 

“What in the world?!” a shrill voice cried out, Taeyong flinched and turned to find Pepper standing by the stairs looking at the two with terrified and slightly angered eyes. Taeyong gave an awkward giggle and waved whilst pointing at his dad. Tony gave the boy a deadpanned and fake hurt look whilst he turned to Pepper and then shrugged. “You’re supposed to be in bed.”

“Taeyong helped me get out—”

“Wha— No I didn’t!”

Tony arched his brow, “I very clearly remember you helping me get down the stairs.

Taeyong spluttered, “You betrayer!” 

Tony shrugged his shoulders, "Not that hard to outsmart a nine year-old.”

Taeyong turned back to Pepper, “He wants to hack into Obadiah’s computer and get evidence against him.” This time it was Tony that resembled a fish out of water. Taeyong merely smirked, “What, you really think I didn’t notice what that USB was meant for? I watched enough spy movies with Happy to know what you’re planning. Catch up old man.” 

Tony simply shrugged, “Okay… so maybe I can’t outsmart a nine year-old.”

“Nah you can,” Taeyong said, jumping off the chair and walking towards his dad. “You just can’t outsmart a Stark.” He took the device out of his dad’s hand and skipped over to Pepper. “This device is supposed to hack into the Stark Industries mainframe?” he turned around to look at his dad who nodded.

“Pepper,” Stark called. The assistant looked at the both of them and shook her head. “I need you to go out there and retrieve all shipping manifests.” 

“What are you doing? Both doing?!” she turned to give a disapproving glance towards Taeyong. “Absolutely not, you should be in bed…”

Tony walked to her, stumbling in his clunky suit. “They’ve been dealing weapons under the table and I’m going to stop them.” 

“Absolutely not,” Pepper said. “I’m not helping you with anything if you’re going to start this again—”

“There is nothing else!” Tony shouted, coughing with the strain. “There’s no art opening. There’s no benefit. There’s nothing to sign. There’s no decisions to be made,” he stressed. “There’s the next mission and nothing else. There’s nothing except this.”

Pepper looked down at Taeyong who was wearing a headset too big for him and then at Tony with dismantled and a still being built suit around him. “I quit,” she said with finality.

“Really?” Tony started. “You stood there by my side when all I did was reap the benefits of wholesale irresponsibility and destruction and now that I’m trying to right those wrongs! To protect the people I put in harm's way— no one. That was me Pepper, all me! That’s when you decide to walk out on me?”

Pepper looked away, “You’re going to kill yourself. I can’t support that.” 

“So far so good,” Tony breathed out heavily. He looked at Pepper closely, “Pepper. I know what I have to do. I don’t know if I can, but I know in my heart that it’s right.” Taeyong watched as Pepper looked back up at her boss. “And I can’t do it without you. Without both of you,” he said, placing a metal hand on Taeyong’s shoulder. The nine year-old gave his bravest smile. 

“Fine,” Pepper said. “I’ll hack into the Stark Industries mainframe. Get whatever it is you want. But I’m calling Johnny’s mom. Taeyong is leaving and he’ll be back in the morning—"

“What?!” the younger shouted. “No I—”

“Go Taeyong,” Tony said, looking at Pepper with understanding. “You don’t need to be in this mess more than you already are—”

“But dad I—"

“It’s fine,” Tony smiled down at the younger. “You’ll be back in the morning. Just leave for a bit. I’m not going anywhere okay?”

Taeyong huffed but nodded, “Okay.” 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

“Dad?!” Taeyong collapsed on his knees, crawling over to Tony. His face pale and temperature cold as veins started to become more opaque within the seconds. 

“Da-dad? What— what do I do?” he asked, placing his hand on his dad’s chest.


	11. Obadiah's true colours come out

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony and Rhodey get into an argument over the billionaire's new antics to become a hero and right his wrongs. With this Rhodey leaves and Pepper is only a few steps away from doing that herself. Taeyong stays with his dad, promising to never leave the man. But, when Pepper says that Taeyong needs to stay away from all this mess, Tony agrees.

They're separated once again. 

***

Maybe having Taeyong gone was a bad idea. The mansion was completely silent and although Tony usually worked on his own his entire life, having Taeyong with him in the recent weeks was a nice change. There was also an underlying anxiousness bubbling in the very pit of Tony’s stomach with the knowledge that Pepper was risking her life gathering information against Obadiah that Tony had sent for her to complete. 

If anything happened to Pepper then that would be on Tony. She wanted out and he wouldn’t let her, even when she quit and was free to walk away. Tony shook his head, there was nothing that he could do now. She was gone and she continued to get information, because she knows that she can do it. Also that Tony was in no condition to walk out of the mansion let alone his bedroom.

The genius knew that there was no point in trying to find ways to make him feel more guilty. No. He had a mission to do and right now taking baby steps seemed like a good plan. Wait for Pepper to call but right now he was going to complete the suit in front of him. Mark III this one would be, after almost getting blown to pieces because of army aircrafts, Tony needed to fix up his suit. 

Slaving away on the CNC machine, different metal parts started to cut out in front of him. The machine worked hard whilst Tony manually controlled it- before all the power to that machine cut. Tony leant back, looking at his unfinished work with confusion. “Jarvis? What gives?”

“You have a visitor, Sir. Obadiah Stane is here,” the A.I. responded. 

Tony felt his face features move to surprise. He looked around his now messy lab and working space. Taeyong’s work area still pretty well kept because the younger hardly had much projects as of late. He took one lasting look at the machine parts that he had been making for his suit and then went back upstairs, to his awaiting guest. 

Obadiah didn’t seem to take that Tony smelt faintly of metallic metals and was seemingly covered with different oil stains. The man had on his crisp, cut CEO suit and graced Tony with a simple smile and an arm out, balancing a pizza box. “It’s UNOS, four cheese,” Obadiah said, placing the pizza on the living room table. “I just had it flown in from Chicago,” he explained. 

“That’s a shame,” Tony said, walking in with an air of cautiousness. “Taeyong-ah’s not here.”

Obadiah sighed, “You can have it too.” Obadiah tried for another friendly smile but Tony remained stoic. It seemed like whatever it is that Obadiah wanted, he was not going to get over pizza. Which was a fair prediction to make. “I’d like you to proof-read something for me,” he handed over a folded letter. 

Tony took the letter from his hands, “Would you like me to spell-check it, Sir?” Jarvis said. Tony’s eyes skimmed through most of the letter—

“Can you turn him off? All the way?” Obadiah asked. 

“Spin down Jarvis,” Tony mumbled. After finishing the gist of the letter he turned back to Obadiah. “Your resignation?” he held the paper back out to Obadiah, who took it and nodded solemnly. 

“You were right. It’s not my company— not my name on the building.” Obadiah looked back at Tony and gave him a small smile. “We were a great team… but I guess this is where out paths diverge.” 

Tony didn’t know what to say. Was everything over then? Because Obadiah had given up, he had quit. That’s what Tony wanted, but now it was here and it was anti-climatic. Obadiah had freed Tony like that. Was it supposed to be this easy? A blip was heard from the phone system, both men looking over at the hologram that made its way to Tony. Incoming: Pepper Potts. 

“Pepper… I should take that,” he muttered. 

“Tony,” Obadiah started. “Please, I’ll be out of here in a minute.”

The genius nodded, declining his assistants call and returning his attention to his longtime business partner and mentor. This was probably going to be the last time that Tony would see him again. The least he could pay to him was a little respect, which was a lot with Tony's track record. 

Obadiah met Tony’s eyeline. Patting him lightly on the shoulder like he had done many times. That gesture always reminded Tony of a father figure. Which is how he looked up to Obadiah when the older man decided to mentor Tony when he first joined the company after years of being left in the dark. “We have too much history to part on bad terms. I’d like your blessing,” the man said. 

Tony went to open his mouth when a paralysing pain shattered through his body. His words clogged at the back of his throat, threatening a nasty cough if he could get anything out. His body gave out until Obadiah slowly caught him, lowering the mechanic to the ground. “Easy now. Try to breathe…” the man taunted, slowly getting up and staring at Tony from the ground. 

The young CEO choked on his spit, producing small panicked sounds from his throat as he stared up at Obadiah with wide, blown eyes. Obadiah titled his head, slowly kneeling down and opening the buttons on Tony’s shirt. “You can’t mess with progress, Tony. It’s an insult to the Gods. You created your greatest weapon ever—” Obadiah tapped on the new arc reactor in Tony’s chest, slowly twisting it around. “—but you think that means it belongs to you. It belongs to the world.”

Tony could do nothing but watch with complete fear and agony as Obadiah started to slowly take out his arc reactor. His breaths coming in ragged and gurgled with his inability to move. He was paralysed. “Your ‘heart’ will be the seed of the next generation of weapons. They’ll help us steer the world back in the right direction — put the balance of power back in our hands. The right hands.” Obadiah gave one final tug and the arc reactor was gone, Tony’s chest left as a cavity of his only life source. 

“By the time you die, my prototype will be operational. It’s not as conservative as yours,” he smiled. The man took out his handkerchief wrapping the arc reactor in it before pocketing the ‘heart’ and leaving. “The sad thing is… we’re both good guys.” 

***

It was a miracle that Johnny’s mom was able to drive to Taeyong’s malibu mansion right after work. The outside was getting dark and it seemed like everyone was getting edgy the longer they had to wait for Taeyong to leave. It made the younger ones scared but also feel unwanted. So when she did come, he was very thankful that Johnny and Mark were all seated in the car. 

Taeyong sat next to Johnny whilst Mark was saddled up in the passenger seat. He looked outside the car window as the car drove off and his mansion slowly started to fade in the night time distance. “I don’t want to leave,” he mumbled. 

“What was that?” Johnny asked, turning to Taeyong. 

The younger bit his lip, he wasn’t supposed to tell Johnny. But this was his bestest friend in the whole world. He couldn’t just keep this a secret from Johnny, that’s not how brothers work. Taeyong placed a finger over his lip and pointed to Johnny’s mom, the older nodded. “How’s it?” he whispered.

“Dad’s in trouble,” Taeyong whispered.

Johnny widened his eyes, “You sure?” 

Taeyong hissed for Johnny to keep it down, gaining the attention of little Mark, who turned around and squinted his eyes at the two boys in suspicion. Taeyong and Johnny plastered big, fake smiles over their faces whilst Mark squinted further. He pointed at the two of them and then turned around very slowly, making Johnny and Taeyong hold their breath until he was fully staring at the front. Who knew a six year-older could be that intimidating?

“We need to get you out of here then,” Johnny said. 

Taeyong turned to look at his long time friend in surprise. Johnny was willing to help him? Even if that meant Taeyong would be away from him? See this is what brothers do, Taeyong had never felt more thankful for having Johnny in his life. “What do we do then?” he asked.

“We need to create a distraction,” Johnny whispered back, making both nine year-olds lean back against their seats and stare forward, their little brains thinking up ways to get out of the moving vehicle. 

Johnny snapped his fingers, “mom! Mom! MOM!” he screamed.

“What is it?!” she yelled. 

“I need to pee!” he shouted. 

“Can’t you just wait?” she asked, looking at her son through the rear view mirror.

“NO! I NEED TO PEE!” he shouted, starting to kick on the back of the seats, which made Mark start to shout. Taeyong looked at Johnny with wide eyes as he and Mark started to scream at each other. The car stopped and Mrs Seo groaned, getting out of her seat belt and the car. 

“Thanks,” Taeyong said, quickly undoing his own seatbelt. 

“Are you going to run back?” Johnny asked. Taeyong gave a short nod. 

Mark watched with a confused gaze as both boys got out of the car. He shouted when Taeyong quickly sprinted back down the road to his house. The young boy could hear Mrs Seo shout for him to come back and then the screams of encouragement made by Johnny. One day, he would have to explain his plan to Mark, the poor boy was probably very confused. 

Taeyong wasn’t the best at sport considering he stayed at home and completed his academics via A.I. system. Sports or any type of competitive sport didn’t really sit well as a possible future hobby for the young boy. Now though, as he sprinted down the straight road to get back to his house, he did kind of wish that he was better at track or something. Taeyong felt his chest burn as his panting quickened and more oxygen started to circulate around his body. 

God he hated running. He looked over his shoulder to see that he had gotten quite a distance away from the car, but the journey back home was still long. He could see his house, he had not been in the car for that long, but running felt like forever. The young boy slowed to a jog and panted even harder. 

He stopped and bent down to place his hands on his knees, breathing harder and harder. “I’m coming dad,” he panted, looking back up at the house. That’s when he saw a car coming up the road. His eyes widened and he quickly ran the trees in the surrounding land. He hid his body behind a thick trunk and squinted his eyes when he saw that the make of the car was Obadiah Stane’s. “Obadiah?” he whispered. 

Taeyong didn’t know if he was supposed to shout out to the older man and gain his attention. Or if Obadiah was one of the bad people that was working against his father. He let the car pass and quickly started to run, the small break being enough for his energy to come back. That and he was worried about his father even more. Why was Obadiah back home? Taeyong shouted in relief once the house came up bigger and clearer, he had made it. The young boy walked into the house and furrowed his brows. His head tilted at the silence, there wasn’t a buzz of electricity in the house. 

“Jarvis, turn on please,” he said out loud. 

“Hello, Sir—”

“Where’s dad?” he asked.

“Your father is in the labs. It seems as if his arc reactor is missing. Obadiah Stane must have taken it when he visited, Sir.” 

Taeyong quickly ran down to the labs, running through the already broken lab door to get to his father. “Dad?” he shouted, looking around. His eyes widened when he noticed some blood come from behind one of the tables. Taeyong slowly walked ahead, slowly gulping when he turned the corner. “Dad?!” Taeyong collapsed on his knees, crawling over to Tony. His face pale and temperature cold as veins started to become more opaque within the seconds. 

“Da—dad? What— what do I do?” he asked, placing his hand on his dad’s chest. He looked down at the hole in Tony’s shirt before his finger touched the edge of the arc reactor cavity. “I have it, I have the old one you took out. Do we— can we still use that?”

Tony looked up at Taeyong with panic and nodded, the man groaning out a yes. “Okay— okay— I’ll be right back- hang on!” he shouted, before taking off. The smaller boy ran up the stairs and whizzed past the living room to get to his bedroom. He grabbed the glass box that Pepper had gifted him and smashed it on the ground. He picked up his father’s old arc reactor, shaking off any additional glass as he raced back down to the labs. 

Taeyong went back over to his dad who was sitting up in a slumped position. “I— I can do this,” he whispered to himself, slowly placing the arc reactor in his dad’s chest. The young boy pushed it in completely before watching with worried, blinking eyes as it started to light up. “Is it working? How do I know if it works? It’s lighting up but I don’t—” Taeyong was immediately brought into Tony’s chest. 

“It works,” the billionaire panted. “You did it,” he said, hugging his boy close. 

Taeyong started to cry again. “Oh good, good. I thought you were going to die for a second,” he mumbled, sitting on the cold floor and laying his body over his father’s chest. Taeyong’s eyes landed on the arc reactor and the soft white glow it emitted. 

“You shouldn’t have sent me away,” he whispered. 

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“S’ not your fault,” Taeyong muttered. Both father and son sat like that for the next couple minutes until Taeyong cut the silence. “Jarv— Jarvis said that Obadiah stole your heart first?” he sniffed and looked up at his dad. “Obadiah’s one of the bad guys?”

Tony gave a nod, “We need to get to Pepper. She’s in trouble, we’re gonna need help.”

Taeyong furrowed his brows, “Call uncle Rhodey then,” he said. 

“No can do,” Tony shook his head. Taeyong helped him start to stand up. “He won’t help me.”

Taeyong gave his father a steely gaze, “call him.” 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

“You had to take my car,” Tony said. 

Rhodey grinned and rolled his eyes, stepping out and grabbing Tony to stand up again, “saving your ass is getting to be a full-time job.”


	12. Having our first Boss Battle

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong was supposed to be sent away from his dad, heading to the safest place at the moment... Johnny and Mark's apartment. But, something doesn't' fit right with the younger, he made a promise not to leave his dad, so he isn't. Johnny manages to get Taeyong out of the car and distract his mom long enough for Taeyong to quickly run back home. It's good that he made it on time, because Tony was lying almost lifeless on the ground, an arc reactor missing from his chest. 

Now all they have to deal with is Obadiah Stane. 

***

Rhodey came to the mansion quickly, with Mrs Seo, Johnny and Mark all standing and watching the billionaire slowly get up. “Where’s Pepper?” Tony asked, looking over at Rhodey once he got off the phone with her. 

“Don’t worry, she’s with the Feds. They’re on their way to Stark to arrest Obadiah,” he said. 

Tony looked down at Taeyong who gave his father a grim look. “Dad we need to help.”

“We?” Rhodey asked. “Tony you can’t—”

“He’s staying. Mrs Seo, I think it’s best you drive your boys home, thank you for everything.” The mother nodded gravely, ushering Johnny and Mark to the door. Johnny quickly slid out of his mom’s grip, running to Taeyong and hugging his friend close. 

“Don’t get yourself killed okay?” he said, cupping Taeyong’s cheeks together. The younger merely nodded and watched as Johnny ran back to his mom and they all left. He looked up at his dad and gave him a firm smile. 

“What do we do now?” 

Tony looked back at Rhodey, “They’re going to need a lot more than a few Agents. Give me a hand,” he said. Both Taeyong and Rhodey helped Tony start to walk back into his workshop, supporting his back. A door opened, revealing The Hall of Armor. Rhodey and Taeyong’s eyes widened in disbelief, looking at the hanging Mark II suit but also the weaponised battle-ready Mark III. Many different gauntlets and other future designed prototypes littered the hall. But it seemed like Tony was getting ready to build himself an army of suits. 

Both Taeyong and Rhodey looked at each other as Tony walked over to his Mark III suit. The two of them started to wire Tony’s suit together, making sure that the man was comfortable in his gear as Rhodey helped rivet the last panel in place. Taeyong walked over to a new pair of headsets, smiling widely when he realised that they were custom made to fit his head size. He placed them on and grinned, linking up to his dad’s suit. 

“Do you read me dad?” he asked. 

“Loud and clear,” Tony said back. He gave Taeyong a smile as Rhodey handed him his mask. Watching Tony put on the mask for his final Mark III design was that moment that Taeyong read about in his books. His father was a hero and he was having his superhero moment. It was his own and he was going to save the day. “Taeyong, you help me online. Rhodey, you know what you gotta do.” 

Rhodey nodded and got inside one of the non-crashed cars of Tony’s and drove away whilst Taeyong sat in his father’s car and connected himself to his father’s screens. The holograms floating around him and glowing a faint blue that brought Taeyong back to familiarity even though his heart was racing. He looked over at Tony, giving his father a thumbs up as he flew out of the previous hole he made nights ago. 

“Jarvis, make sure someone patches that up,” Taeyong asked over the now silence of the lab. 

“Yes Sir.”

***

Tony flew to the Stark Industries lab building, the main site that Obadiah would use for creating his own suit. He relied on his new and improved flight stabilizers to get him there faster as he tried to connect his in phone system to Pepper. He couldn’t get to her, “Taeyong make sure to pick up in Pepper calls,” Tony said. 

“Course Dad,” the younger replied. 

Tony narrowed his eyes at the research building, after so many weeks of not going to the labs to check up on what was going on in his company, the CEO almost didn’t recognise it. He could see cars littering the outside of the research centre, black SUV’s denoting the feds that must have circled the building. He could hear a crash from inside and watched through a new filter that Taeyong set up, as the heat signatures of the people inside of the building lit up in front of him, 

“Tony!” Pepper’s scared voice rang out in his helmet, “Obadiah’s got a whole assembly line under the Ark. He’s inside one of them—!” 

“Where are you? Get out of there first, I’m coming in.”

“Tony, what are—” the line cut and Tony was left calling Pepper again. 

“What happened Taeyong?” 

“Something external. Maybe she dropped her phone?” the younger boy said. “I’ll try to call again. Jarvis is getting surveillance of the inside of the research labs. She was right, Obadiah’s made an entire army of suits. Be careful,” Taeyong warned. 

Tony crashed into the research facility, landing better on his knees with some trying. He lifted himself up, finding Pepper stare at him with wide eyes. “Tony…”

“Pepper, I’m going to say one thing to you, duck!” Tony held his repulsors up and fired as soon as Pepper took a dive. Obadiah was in his own suit, the Dynamo that had jerked his head in Tony’s direction. “Obadiah,” he greeted.

“Tony,” Obadiah laughed, “it’s miraculous,” he said motioning to his suit. “Tony, it’s your ninth symphony. Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever.” 

“This wasn’t meant for the world,” Tony said. The both started to charge at each other, the lab blaring red warning lights and the atmosphere starting to blur with release of fogged toxic gases. “How can you be so selfish? Do you understand what you’ve created? This will put the balance of power back in our hands, for decades. Your country needs this.”

Tony started to fire his repulsors, fighting Obadiah with speed as he couldn’t match the man’s giant structure. “What kind of world will it be when everyone’s got one?!” Tony questioned. 

“Your father helped give us the bomb. What kind of world would it be if he’d failed us?” Tony gritted his teeth at Obadiah’s word. Tony didn’t want to hear any word about his father come out of the man that he looked up for help. The man he considered a father when he decided to come into his majority and take over the Stark Industries again. 

Both separated when the gas exploded and blew them into opposite sides of the corridor they were stuck in. “Putting thermal sensors back on…. now,” Taeyong said. Tony watched as Obadiah remained standing, waiting for Tony to show up. He currently had the element of surprise on his side, so Tony rounded the next corner. Emerging from behind the many machinery and girders that Obadiah made for the suit. 

Tony had to move the machinery, those couple of seconds are enough for Obadiah to come charging at him like a bullet-train. The pressure from the hit has Tony driven backwards, but Obadiah remained the vice-like grip on Tony’s suit and he collides into a cement wall, punch clean through it. 

“Dad?!” Taeyong shouted, “You alright?” 

Tony groaned, “never better.” 

Both Tony and Obadiah managed to crash into the truck trailer, passing through that and heading out of the lab into the main roads. The freeway to be specific. Cars screeched and halted beside them whilst Tony tried to fly intricately around them, Obadiah shoved them aside like obstacles. The general public fled from their vehicles at the oncoming fight, and before Tony could process what was going on an incoming call flashed across his screen. Pepper. 

“Tony— are you there?!” 

“A little busy, Pepper—”

“The reactor’s been it—”

“Get to the control room.” Tony ordered, “shut it down—”

“How the hell am I supposed to shut it down?!” Pepper exclaimed through the call. 

“It’s fine Pepper, I can direct you,” Taeyong’s voice cut in. 

“Taeyong?”

“Don’t ask,” Tony grunted. “Just go!” Tony twisted in the air whilst the call disable and rose in the air. Obadiah grabbed a Volvo station-wagon, inside was a mother and her children. Tony sighed tiredly, and flew higher, watching Obadiah lift the car high above his head. “Don’t. Tony warned. “This is our fight.”

“People are always going to die, Tony — part of the chess game.” 

“Emergency power—” 

“Sir,” Jarvis' voice called. “You’ll drain the—”

“NOW!” Tony called. The arc reactor glowed from the outside of the suit and Tony let his chest aim back to Obadiah, blasting him whilst the man threw the car at Tony who strained but held on. The woman and her children watched through the front window as Tony started to buckle under the weight. Tony fell back as the car slammed on top of him, the mother screamed and drove over Tony’s body, far away from the previous fight, but landing a few scratches on both her car and Tony’s suit. 

“...ouch.” 

Tony staggered his way back up, trying to regain his own footing as Obadiah got back up from the previous blast that Tony nailed on him. The two run back at each other, brute force was met as they clashed in a cacophony of steel and grinding hydraulics. Tony and Obadiah continue to fight when Pepper and Taeyong’s voices reign in his head. 

“The controls are on,” Pepper said. 

“Still there’s bad news,” Taeyong said. “The delta rate is at 1-2-5-0 dad… it’s going to blow,” he said. 

“It’s what?!” Pepper shouted. 

Tony groaned back, Obadiah had managed to throw a minivan at him this time. “What is it with him and cars?” Tony held his ground and decided to grab a tank engine and hit Obadiah with it. “You know what happens when that reactor blows. A lot of people are going to die,” Tony said. 

“It didn’t have to end like this, Tony. You were down— you should’ve stayed down.” They both collide at Obadiah’s words, Tony almost defeated. His previous fight had drained him and he was still recovering, the billionaire could feel himself almost losing. Obadiah grabbed him by his neck and smashed him to the ground. “Say goodbye Tony,” Obadiah said, bringing a fist into the air. Tony held his hand out when a car sped forward and hit Obadiah out of the way. Tony’s mask slid open, he was now staring at his own car, with Rhodey inside. 

“You had to take my car,” Tony said. 

Rhodey grinned and rolled his eyes, stepping out and grabbing Tony to stand up again, “Saving your ass is getting to be a full-time job.” 

Rhodey and Tony look back over to where Obadiah was, his body lying haphazardly on top of a bus, but the suit wasn’t moving. “Evacuate everything. I’ll be getting Pepper now,” he said, firing his repulsors and heading to the research lab. 

“Update on the reactor,” Tony asked.

“Delta’s at 2300. It’s not going down,” Pepper said. 

“Dad, I’ve checked. There’s no stopping this,” Taeyong said. 

“It’s too late. It’s going to blow a crater a mile wide. I’m coming to get you Pepper.” Tony flew over to the research lab, his eyes ghosting over a satellite dish, sparking an idea. “Pepper wait, we’re going to overload the reactor.” 

“It’s already overloading!” Pepper screamed. 

“No, it’s compressing energy. We’re going to convert the plasma core to electricity and channel it up through the roof,” he explained. 

“Like a Tesla coil... that’s brilliant.” Taeyong said. “Pepper you’re going to need to find a red submarine hatch, a red wheel thingy,” the younger explained. 

“Okay got it,” Pepper said. Tony started to rearrange the satellite dishes, he pulled the wires to recreate a Tesla coil. 

“Okay Pepper,” Tony called. “Open it all the way, then standby to hit the master. We’ve only got one shot at this.” Once Tony connected the wires together, he was met with the satellite dish glowing an eerie yellow colour. The billionaire stilled, the satellite now reflecting a suit, Obadiah. Tony quickly turned around to see Obadiah slowly get to him in his now battered suit. “Pepper hit the switch.”

“Dad, you’re still in the—” Tony cut the call and let Obadiah jump on top of him. The reactor blew up between the two, turning the suit men into statues as the pulse of the EMP surged through them and knocked out their suits' power and electronics. 

Tony groaned when he felt the roof under his feet start to cave in on itself, quickly he rolled out of it before he could fall. 

“Tony!” a voice shouted, it was Obadiah. Tony turned around to find the man hanging just on the edge of the hole, slowly the ceiling was sinking around him. 

Tony felt his suit hold him back, “Jarvis, take the suit off.” Without the suit on Tony ran back to Obadiah, bending down and holding his hand out. “Take my hand…”

“So this is the answer, Tony? This is how you’re going to save the world? It’s not in you. Your father told me before he died, ‘my boy doesn’t have a warrior's heart.’ I should have listened.” 

Tony gulped, “my father never knew me.” 

Obadiah looked back up at Tony and smiled, “But I do. Goodbye by boy.” He let himself go, making Tony shout before the suit dragged him into the pool of electrified plasma, the currents hissing and swallowing him up. 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong gasped, “You’re the S.H.I.E.L.D. dude!” he said, recognising him immediately and pointing the man out, whilst he dad walked around the car to get to the young boy quickly. 

“S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Tony asked, resting a hand over Taeyong’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I was gone for a good three weeks? I don't really know, but it does feel like a very long time. My laptop's battery doesn't work and unfortunately, there's only so much I do with my old phone. I don't have the opportunity to buy a new charger because of the virus outbreak. Right now, my laptop was able to charge, but I don't know how long it'll last for another update. So I ask for you all to be patient with me. 
> 
> Stay safe and remember to keep sanitised. 
> 
> -Tommy


	13. I Am Iron Man.

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony and Obadiah fight until they destroy the Stark Industries labs. Obadiah manages to overheat the Arc Reactor to a destructive ticking bomb and there seems to be no way in order to stop it. But Tony decided to channel that explosive energy and surge it to the sky, creating a tesla coil to help aim it properly. In the making of this coil, Tony and Obadiah fight on the roof top of the Labs until Obadiah's suit fails him and he falls to his death. 

Tony has won the fight, but at what cost?

***

Taeyong sat in the normal confinements of Tony’s car, at least one that was actually in full pieces and not lying broken in their garage. Taeyong had asked, he and Tony would be starting to repair the cars together by next week. Looks like another project to complete whilst Taeyong also drew up cool designs for his own suit, without Tony’s permission. The two of them were going to meet up with Pepper and Rhodey at a hall to hold a press conference. 

Taeyong usually allowed to go to press conferences because that would damage his non-existence in the eyes of the public, not like the younger had known. He simply thought that Tony didn’t want him to disturb his work. Turned out, no one on Earth knew that Tony Stark had a son, no one had a clue Taeyong Lee-Stark existed. The young boy would never really learn the extent of how badly this would damage him in the future. For now, he simply relished in the fact that he was allowed to be a part of another thing with his dad. “So, am I going to be sitting in a separate room with Pepper whilst you do the talking?” Taeyong asked, looking up at his dad who was driving in the car for once. 

“Yep, sorry you can’t be front and centre. But it’s probably for best, we let you come out to the public slowly,” his dad advised. 

Taeyong nodded in his seat and quickly clicked off his seat belt, when the car slowed inside of a parking lot. He got out first, shutting the door and waiting for his dad. Rhodey and Pepper walked over to him, with another man briskly following. Taeyong gasped, “You’re the S.H.I.E.L.D. dude!” he said, recognising him immediately and pointing the man out, whilst he dad walked around the car to get to the young boy quickly. 

“S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Tony asked, resting a hand over Taeyong’s shoulder.

“Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement, and Logistics Division,” the man said. “But, S.H.I.E.L.D. actually does sound like a better name for our… brand,” he smiled at Taeyong who prided himself in figuring out the name. “Agent Coulson, you remember me Stark?” he asked, directing his attention to Tony who pursed his lips and nodded vaguely, eyes shifting to his assistant. 

“Agent Coulson here, is keeping the situation under wraps for now, his team was the one that helped me during the attack at the labs,” she explained. 

Tony nodded and then turned a slight grateful look towards Coulson, before his feature moulded itself into his regular air of arrogance. “Always nice to have a helping hand. Mind if I ask what you’re doing in the back with us though?” Tony started to walk in the direction of the building’s elevator. Pepper and Rhodey followed behind them whilst Agent Coulson pulled out a set of queue cards from out of his pocket. 

“It would be beneficial to my team if you read this,” he handed over the queue cards to Tony, “prepared speech to the public. Nothing happened that night, all and any explosion remains,” Coulson gave a small smile, “the fault of a fireworks accident.”

Tony looked down at the cards and then back at Coulson, “thanks.” 

“No problem,” he said. “We have a room suited for you just before you make your appearance to the public.” 

Tony looked down at Taeyong and they both walked away. Pepper and Rhodey filing behind the two. Taeyong looked up at his father, “are you going to lie to the News people?” he asked.

Tony started at Taeyong, “would there be anything wrong with lying?” he asked.

Taeyong shrugged his shoulders, “I guess? Isn’t the News always supposed to tell the truth?” 

Tony turned to the other two behind them, Pepper and Rhodey stared at Taeyong in amusement. The boy was sometimes too innocent. “So what do you suggest I do?”

Taeyong scrunched up his face, “Why are you asking me? I don’t know!” 

Tony chuckled and they all walked into the hotel-like room, waiting for an ‘okay’ so that they could go into the press conference room. Meanwhile, Rhodey quickly took a call for his higher-ups to make sure they knew he was with Tony and what was going to happen at the press conference. As well as this, Pepper made sure to tend to the company through her usual bluetooth ear piece. 

Taeyong sat right in front of his dad whilst Tony relayed the speech that Coulson had prepared. “Apparently I was on a yacht,” he said. Taeyong screwed his face up again, Tony nodding along to the younger. “Yeah, really doesn’t seem like me, does it?” he joked. 

“Paper,” Pepper called, handing him the L.A. Times. “Focus, please.” 

Taeyong grabbed the paper and looked at the front cover, “Who Is The Iron-Man?” he read the title out loud, staring at the grainy image of the iron battle in Stark Industries labs.

“‘Iron-Man’ is not technically accurate, since it is mostly carbon-fibre and ceramic. But, I like the ring of it, ‘Iron-Man.’” Tony said. 

Taeyong looked up, “what about ‘Iron-Boy’?” the younger smirked. 

Tony gave Taeyong a grin, “I said I’ll make you a suit, not let you do what I do.”

The younger huffed, “unfair. I wanna go battle bad guys and fight aliens.” 

Tony furrowed his brows, “I don’t know about aliens, bud.” 

“You just don’t know how to believe,” Taeyong waved off dismissively. 

Before Tony could talk back to his son, Rhodey cut them both off. “I’m going up first, let me finish. I’ll introduce you and then you got your part,” he said, directing to Tony.   
“Sure, you’re the boss,” Tony shrugged, looking back at Taeyong and winking at the younger. 

Rhodey grinned and shook his head, “make sure you don’t f-” he looked over at Taeyong “-go over the top. We all know about your recent public appearances.”

Tony simply gave Rhodey a gleaming, Stark smile and shrugged, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He gave Taeyong a small wink and proceeded to stride out of their back scene door into a room full of shouty, reporter voices and the insanely deafening sound of camera clicks and flashes. Taeyong stayed behind Pepper as he watched the live broadcast on the television mounted on the wall. 

The television back at the lab still hadn’t been replaced and Taeyong was still slightly bitter over it. There was a quiet in the air that became present with the simple wave of Tony’s hand, the absolute power that he held will always remain admirable to the masses. In Taeyong’s case, it was appreciated to cancel out any of the noisy reporters that were starting to get to his ear. 

Rhodey had started his little speech, his eyes skimming over to Tony, a silent thanks in getting the people to hush before he started to speak. “I can confirm that a series of military test-prototypes were involves in the incident at Stark Industries last night.. I can also confirm that there was, for a brief time, the danger of an Ark Reactor ‘incident’, which was rectified without injury to the public-” 

Taeyong pursed his lips at that line, finding that the public were most likely still scared over the fight between Obadiah and Tony. A few cars were flipped over, and if they were not injured, then surely their bank accounts were? Who was going to pay for the car damages? Pepper slightly smiled at Taeyong’s little mumblings to himself, the younger never realising that he had expressed his thoughts out in the open. 

“-and all power outages have been restored. Here now, to answer a few brief questions, is Tony Stark.” Rhodey spread his arm out, lightly patting Tony’s back as he stepped up to the podium. Tony looked around at all the reporters that started to talk over each other, now sounding like a bubbling mess of incoherent nonsense. His arm was held up again, the fatigue on his face, even if he was good to hide it, seemed to get to the reporters as they quieted themselves. Or, for lack of better representation, tried to present themselves in a less chaotic way then before. 

Tony inhaled softly and stared down at the speech at the ready. He then stacked them sharply against the podium, aligning them neatly before pocketing them inside his blazer. He held his gaze up and stared at the crowd in front of him, “I’ve seen the papers. I’ve heard the reports. That’s why I want to put an end to all this wild speculation. The truth is-” Tony looked back at Rhodey and then to the camera holding the live broadcast. Taeyong’s eyes widened, his dad was staring at him. 

Tony then turned to the crowd, “-I am Iron Man.” 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong had half a mind to bury Mark in the pillow he was holding, but instead he found that whacking the boy in full force did much more damage. Trying to smother Mark and kill him would not look good for both he and Johnny. So without a word exchanged between the two, Johnny and Taeyong shared a look and then screamed, charging for the younger boy. 

Mark... well he screamed back.


	14. 6 long and successful months later...

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony Stark and Lee-Stark Taeyong together become closer with the creation of Iron Man. On the road to this discovery, both son and father have to face the corruption of the weapons industry within Stark Industries but also battle Obadiah Stane. Tony learns that life is hard and he doesn't want or need Taeyong to face that, but with his new found talent and selfless heroism, that's going to be hard. He learns to become closer to his son, but how close can he really be when his new line of work puts him at risk to the US government. 

Tony Stark, is Iron Man. 

***

Sitting in the dark with nothing but a dirty lamp to keep him company, a man lay in his bed watching the television. The news specifically, with a fast Russian speaker rushing to translate the American man having a press conference. The man residing in the comfort of his broken bed breathed in heavily, letting his body slowly pump oxygen around his frame. 

Said man was called Aton Vanko, and even whilst dying, he lay in his room with anger shaking the very tips of his fingers. His face contorting with an effort to wheeze out in calling for his son. “Come here Ivan,” he spoke, feeling his throat muscles rub against each other. He did not cough, instead allowing his eyes to water in desperation to be better. But he would not be, he was dying and nothing could stop that. 

Walking into the dark room; the television and small hanging bulb as the only light to illuminate his towering stance, was Ivan. Said man, puffed an air of smoke and turned to his father, “that should be you!” Anton whined pathetically, feeling his upper body shake as he tried to sit up. Ivan said nothing as he silently helped his father sit up and rest against the metal bed frame, bars digging into his frail skin. 

Anton turned his head to face the wall, littered with designs and basic mechanics of his own arc reactor he balled his fists. Betrayal and humiliation was never not an emotion he could escape from everyday. Not when the television decided to praise the man whose father left him in such a state. “Stark,” he muttered darkly, watching his son tense beside him. When Anton shifted to look back at his son he was met with another puff of smoke. 

Refusing to hack up more painful coughs, Anton left. Never to come back. Finally, Ivan could do what needed to be done. The television was the only thing alive in the room when Ivan left. The channel remained the same; what was left had been running on on repeat for hours. 

“I’ve seen the papers. I’ve heard the reports. That’s why I want to put an end to all this wild speculation. The truth is-” Tony turned to look back at Rhodey and then faced the camera straight on. “I am Iron Man.” 

6 months later.

Flushing, New York was a place to be during the night. Maybe it was a place to be in the daytime too, but the night was a whole other story. Tony knew this and he also knew that New York was just a great place to be in general. The busy streets, the living atmosphere. The world revolved around him and then again, not, at the same time. He looked over at the pilot of his private jet and smirked before jumping out of the plane and flexing the edges of his fingertips. Immediately letting his Iron Man suit encase his entire form. Allowing for his fall in New York to suddenly turn to flight. 

Fireworks started to explode all around him in a flurry of colours and sparks. Tony smiled gleefully from behind his mask and landed in his outdoor venue for the Stark Expo. Another expo that added to the many he had created in the last six months in order to show his Iron Man suit off to the world. He landed hard and sharp, with fire and hot women in Iron Man themed clothing to dance a put on a show.

When he was sure that everyone was in their positions, he got rid of his suit to stand in a regular tuxedo and grin arrogantly in the eyes of the public. “Ah it’s good to be back,” he spoke, letting the mic attached to his shirt elevate his words for everyone to hear. A shrill cry of ‘make something explode’ from a deep manly voice made Tony smirk, “I just did, what did you think the show was for?” He glowed in the praise and laughs of the crowd, allowing his ego to feast on their pleasantries. 

“And I am not saying—” Tony spun around the circular stage, looking at the audience, “—that the world is enjoying it’s longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me!” he flaunted. But this time with a little relief, because this felt like it. Felt like he had just brought peace on his time, and that’s all he’s always wanted to do. Stick it to the books and no double-dealing behind doors. 

“I’m not saying that from the ashes of captivity never had a great phoenix metaphor personified in human history! I’m not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sippin’ on an iced tea because I haven’t come across anyone man enough to go toe-to-toe on me on my best day!” He grinned wider at one person who shouted an ‘I love you’ to him. 

“Please,” he placed a flattering hand on his chest, “it's not about me. It’s not about you, it’s not even about us. It’s about legacy,” he said finally. Looking back at the audience and watching as the crowd cheered at his statement, making his chest flair with pride and confidence. “It’s about what we choose to leave behind for the next generation… and that’s why, as of next year and for the first time since 1974 the best and brightest men and women of the nation and corporations the world had will pull the resources. Share their collective vision to leave behind a brighter future. It’s about us,” he finished. 

“But really, the progress that I have made today, was a dream started by the man himself. Howard Stark—”

The Ben 10 theme song started to play which led to a cry between Taeyong and Johnny. Both boys looked at the television screen and then back at each other. “What happened?!” Taeyong shouted, searching around for the remote. 

“I don’t know, where’s the remote?” 

“I’m looking for it!” Taeyong screamed. 

They both turned their heads to ask Mark when they froze and stared at the betrayer. Mark Seo, sitting on the sofa with a big smile, humming along to the familiar kids theme song. A huge television remote sitting on his lap, both his small hands wrapped around the small device, whilst his legs swung back and forth as he stared at the television, the show had started. 

“Mark,” Taeyong called nicely. 

The older gulped as he watched little Mark’s smile soon replace with a frown. His eyebrows furrowed together and slowly, the boy peeled his eyes away from the television, in order to give Taeyong a questioning look. But he knew what was coming to him. “Can you give me the remote please?” the older asked. 

“Yeah,” Johnny said, grabbing for the nearest couch pillow and holding it defensively, ready to attack. 

Taeyong held an arm, there didn’t need to be violence. Mark would listen to them, if not at least Taeyong. He had a heart… right? “Hmmm… no.” Mark said, shuffling to return his mind back to the show at hand. But Taeyong could tell from the way the younger’s shoulders had tensed, that he was still on defence about Taeyong and Johnny’s pillow. 

“Okay,” Taeyong nodded, “Johnny, pass me one of those.” Mark whipped his head back around to face Taeyong with wide and disbelieving eyes. 

Taeyong had half a mind to bury Mark in the pillow he was holding, but instead he found that whacking the boy in full force did much more damage. Trying to smother Mark and kill him would not look good for both he and Johnny. So without a word exchanged between the two, Johnny and Taeyong shared a look and then screamed, charging for the younger boy. 

Mark… well he screamed back. 

“Give up the remote!” Johnny screeched.

“No!” Mark shouted back, but louder. 

“Mark, don't make me do this,” Taeyong said, sitting on the boy’s stomach and allowing Johnny to hold his little brother's arms up. 

Mark gasped, “No! Stop it! I wanna watch Ben 10!” 

Taeyong tried to reason with him, “you will. Just let us finish watching the Stark Expo.”

Mark squirmed from under Taeyong, trying to pull his arms free, but Johnny held a vice like grip. “I don’t want to. You and Johnny have been watching for ages and I haven’t had my turn to watch TV!” he screamed. Taeyong cringed at the volume. 

“Mark, I’m sorry it had to get to this,” Taeyong said, starting to tickle the boy. Mark bellowed out in loud laughter, trying to swat Taeyong away. Johnny quickly went to grab the TV remote which had flown under their coffee table before changing the channel. Taeyong let Mark go and fell on top of him. Mark pushed Taeyong away, watching the older roll onto the ground and sitting back up with his eyes fixated on his granddad’s presentation still on screen. 

Suddenly a cry had got both Johnny and Taeyong’s frame frozen in slight fear. They both spun around in the group to face a crying Mark, who was kinda loud. Taeyong turned back to Johnny, “do something!” he hissed. 

“What- why me?!”

“He’s your brother!”

“He likes you more!” Johnny countered. 

Taeyong huffed and got up, sitting next to Mark. “Mark come on, stop crying now. We’ll watch Ben 10 with you, we’re sorry.”

“Yeah,” Johnny said from the ground. 

Taeyong gave his friend a deadpanned look and wrapped an awkward arm around Mark’s shoulder before he pulled the boy into his side. “Come on, let’s start watching Ben 10, Johnny change the channel again, please.” He pulled his sleeve and wiped Mark’s tears. The younger sniffed and sank back into Taeyong’s side, staring at the TV with a frown. Taeyong looked over at Johnny who shrugged. 

“You- you can watch your dad if you want,” Mark whispered. 

Taeyong shook his head, “it’s alright Mark. We’ll watch Ben 10—”

“No it’s fine. I want to watch the News anyway,” he tried to defend. 

Sending both Mark and Taeyong a cautious look, Johnny changed the channel back to World News 21, where the Stark Expo was being broadcasted live. 

***

Tony looked over at the screen, his eyes making contact with his father. When he left to go backstage, his eyes cast themselves over to anyone who might have been near him. But everyone seemed to be doing their job, which is exactly what he needed in order to get a small metal device out of the inner lining of his blazer. 

He pricked his finger and let a little bit of blood ooze into the device, waiting for it’s only purpose to load. Staring at the screen he was met with a very unfortunate looking text; BLOOD TOXICITY 13%. Tony smiled back when a senior staff member guided him over to the main stage area and he walked back with a fresh face. Ending the Stark Expo and watching the people of America cheer him on, before he was ushered back out of the stage and into the very helpful hands of Happy Hogan. 

Both Happy and Tony faced the press head on; Happy doing his job as a security guard and Tony doing his best at being himself. Which was easy especially with the array of people around them. Tony walked out of the double doors into the backstage area, swaggering his way through a crowd of reporters and into the line of a beautiful woman with not-so-beautiful intentions. 

She gave Tony a smirk and handed him a piece of paper, “if you ever want to talk.” Tony gave a grin in return, ready to strike up a conversation when Happy dragged him away and whisked him into a bunch of kids. 

“Oh Iron Man! Can you sign my poster?” one of the kids cheered. 

“We’re running late—”

“Nonsense Happy!” Tony bent down and took on the kiddies pens, singing their Iron Man poster with a content smile. “You wanna be a hero?” 

“Just like you,” the kid said. 

Tony nodded, “you’re already a hero kid,” he said, standing up and allowing Happy to take his arm and pull him away. Tony walked downstairs into an after affair, stopping when a businessman in a classic, black suit gave him a smile. 

“Mr Stark! Lovely Expo, please do give me a call!” he said, quickly tucking his business card into Tony’s palm. 

“Sure will!” Tony said over his shoulder and walked down the stairs. He looked at the business card and then handed it over to Happy who pocketed the card and pressed a firm hand on Tony’s back, pulling him outside. 

Tony and Happy came face-to-face with a young looking man, who was rubbing his arm nervously and peered around their car with anxiety. “Who’s that?” Tony asked.

“I have no idea, hope he doesn’t come with the car.” 

Tony and Happy proceeded to walk to their car, Happy taking to the drivers seat. “Oh Mr- Mr Stark. Hi,” the boy said, giving the man a tight lipped smile. 

“I can’t tell whether or not you’re in pain or not,” Tony said honestly, giving the boy a once over and walking past him, getting into his car after deeming him a non-threat. “You need something… kid?”

“My- my name’s Tommy.” 

“Tommy,” Tony said, “do you need anything?” he repeated.

Tommy shook his head, watching the millionaire get into his car. “Oh wait yeah- sorry. I’m uh- I’m here to tell you that you have to attend the um- the…” Tommy furrowed his brows. “The Senate Armed... Service? At least I think it's a ‘Service’ Committee… it’s in Washington D.C.,” he explained, taking out a piece of paper and holding it out to Tony. Tony looked at the boy and then at Happy. 

Happy reached over to Tony and took the paper, “no offence to you kid, he just doesn’t like to be handed things.”

“Oh ri-right. Sorry then, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anythi—”

“Do you have a badge?” Tony said. 

Tommy nodded quickly, reaching to grab his badge from his belt and being to quick, it fell to the ground. Said boy squeaked and went down to grab his badge before jumping back up and showing it to Tony. “Does- it is okay?”

Tony stared at the badge and looked back at Tommy, “Marshal?”

Tommy nodded, puffing his chest proudly, “Yep!” 

“Okay well, nice to meet you Tommy.” Tony motioned for Happy to start up the car and left, looking back at the rearview mirror to see Tommy waved enthusiastically behind him. 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

“You can’t take the suit because it’s mine,” Tony stressed the last word. His demeanour shifted and he sat forward and centre, fixing his gaze on the senator. “To turn over the suit would be to turn over myself. Which is to amount to danger, servitude or prosecution-” he said, quickly lifting his voice and smirking “-depending on which State you’re in.” Tony shrugged.

“Can’t have it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not entirely sure how frequent the updates will be, but hey! my laptop's finally charged and i have a few notes for what i'm going to do for the next couple of chapters so i hope i can write for a bit. 
> 
> hope you enjoyed this chapter guys.


	15. You Can't Have It!

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony has just done another Stark Expo, one of the many that he’s had since he’s officially come out as Iron Man to the world. The people love him and he’s finally created peace on Earth, the ends to any sort of threat due to his suit. Now he has time to kick back and relax, but maybe that's temporary. As it turns out, there’s something wrong with Tony’s blood and for once, he doesn’t have a solution.

Also, he’s invited to the Senate Armed Service Committee, for what? We’ll see. 

***

Taeyong looked over at his dad whilst they were on their flight to Washington D.C. His eyes held a sort of discontent malice about them, whilst Tony wiggled his eyes, pulling a slight chuckle from Happy who was sitting in the seat beside them, looking between both Starks and the outside view from their jet. Taeyong breathed in sharply when Tony put down a house of threes. Taeyong huffed and presented his random selection of cards. 

Pepper took this moment to walk into the room after talking to the pilot. “What are you doing?” she asked, staring at the cards. 

“Dad’s teaching me to play Poker,” Taeyong explained, grabbing for all the cards and shuffling through them. “I keep losing,” he shrugged. 

“Yep,” Tony said with a smug grin. 

“Oh boo hoo, you can beat a 9 year-old at Poker, what an amazing feat,” Taeyong exasperated. 

Both Tony and Pepper stared at the 9 year-old in shock, before slowly turning to Happy who had fallen into bouts of laughter. “What? We finished watching Murder, She Wrote.” As if that explained everything, and to be fair, a lot of what Taeyong said these days usually came from either Murder, She Wrote or Ben 10. It was a roller coaster ride to have a legitimate conversation with the kid. 

“So! Plan of action,” Tony said, clapping his hands together, “Taeyong you’re staying in your hotel room,” he said.

“What?! I want to go,” the boy whined. 

“It’s going to be a very boring meeting Taeyong,” Pepper tried to explain, “with a lot of people and press. We don’t want anyone to flash cameras at you.” 

“But-”

“You’ll be with me little man,” Happy said, “we can start a new series if you want?” 

Taeyong pursed his lips, looking rather thoughtful, “...okay,” he said slowly. 

***

So maybe Tony did regret having not brought Taeyong to the Senate meeting with him, because it was really boring as hell. The Senate Armed Services Committee was exactly what it sounded like, a bunch of men who didn’t like the fact that Tony had the Iron Man suit on hand. The billionaire himself turned around in his seat to face Pepper with a bored expression, she in return, shook her head and motioned for him to pay attention. 

Tony rolled his eyes, thinking about what his son was probably doing during the entire meeting, probably visiting a museum like the nerd he was. “Mr Stark!” a voice called. 

“Yes dear?” Tony asked, spinning around in his chair and locking eyes with Senator Stern, the man in charge of the meetings briefing. He smirked when he heard the press snicker from behind him, marvelling at the audacity that was in fact, Anthony Edward Stark. 

The senator, however, did not look as pleased. Shame really, it was always easier when they cooperated. “We would like to know about the weapon you have on hand-”

“It’s not a weapon,” Tony said simply, a little indecent shrug to his words. He leant back on his chair, looking at the Senator with a more laidback impression. 

“We have an understanding that you possess a specialised weapon-”

“Still not a weapon,” he pursed his lips and looking around at the people in the room, waiting for someone more competent to take the lead.

“Well I’m no weapons expert-”

“I can tell,” Tony said. “A weapon is designed to cause physical harm, my suit is not a weapon.”

Senator Stern leant closer in his char, “well what would you call it?”

Tony rolled his shoulder and turned to his left, almost as if asking the press to ‘take a look at this guy, am I right?’ and it was working. “A…” he hung, thinking on the right words, but instead let the corners of his lips pull upwards, “high tech prosthesis?” Once again, the snickers from the press behind him, put Tony’s mind at ease. It’s not like the Senator could really do anything to shut them up, he was one that called them on.

But Tony had been playing around with the press for longer, he knew how to twist someone’s hand in just that right way from bending it to be broken, into a gentle massage. People didn’t like compromise, they didn’t like reasoning, which is what Senator Stern promised them. No, they preferred flattery, a quick fix and Tony knew how to establish that in seconds. So yes, he played around with the press whilst the committee continued to try and scrutinise his image in the high ceiling, enclosed room they were stuck in. 

They pick the location and Tony chooses his hand. Like poker, he knew how to win. 

“Look Mr Stark, the matter at hand is that we want the weapon to be turned over to the US-”

“You can’t take the suit because it’s mine,” Tony stressed the last word. His demeanour shifted and he sat forward and centre, fixing his gaze on the senator. “To turn over the suit would be to turn over myself. Which is to amount to danger, servitude or prosecution-” he said, quickly lifting his voice and smirking “-depending on which State you’re in.” Tony shrugged. 

“Can’t have it.” 

“As I said before,” the Senator looked back at his papers, “I am no weapons expert. But I will bring someone in, our very own weapons expert, Mr Justin Hammer.” Tony arched his brow and turned around to look, as everyone else was, as Hammer walked into the conference room. Okay. That’s an understatement, Hammer practically skipped into the room with a gleaming smile to probably match the biggest ego on the planet. 

Tony outwardly rolled and looked back at the Senate with a disappointed shake of his head, “I thought you were bringing in an expert?” He looked back at Hammer and internally grinned at the flushed expression the man put forth, pulling at his collar but still swaggering his way to the table. 

“Ha, funny Tony really. As the Primary weapons contractor I can tell you that I do, infact-” he pause. He actually paused for effect. Tony was going to die, where the hell was Taeyong? The boy needed to see this monstrosity. “-do have a few expert views to put forth. As I speak to you!” he looked back at the press, “the general public.”

“Jesus,” Tony muttered under his breath. 

“I don’t like doing this, I really don’t but we can’t stop the truth. Tony Stark and Iron Man… that suit is a not a high tech prosthesis as you put it. No, it is a high tech killing machine and handing it over to the United States of America is the right thing to do, isn’t that right Senator.” Tony watched both Hammer and Stern make eye contact and felt his spine shiver. Who placed him in an erotic yaoi fanfic? 

“Hey!” Tony was startled from his thoughts when Hammer pressed on, taking the in-set mic and spinning around the room to point at the press. “I’d like to open up my doors without the fear of anyone attacking me too. But let’s be real folks-” Folks?! “-this is not Canada.”

“You should move then,” Tony whispered, he turned to look at Pepper who narrowed her eyes, silently telling him to shut up. His only reply was to take his hand and motion himself zipping his mouth and throwing the key away. 

“Let’s talk about the man who started this, Howard Stark.” Tony turned around and peered at Hammer. He arched a brow, challenging Hammer to say a word against his dad. 

“Your father wanted for the world to be in safe hands, and deemed himself the man of the future. That’s not to say he wasn’t, but he made sure that every one of his creations was open and for the people. By not giving up the Iron Man suit, that just wouldn’t be right.” Hammer shook his head. “That’s all Mr Senator.”

“Thank you, I would also like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the meeting,” Stern said. 

“Rhodes?” Tony furrowed his brows and stood up, turning to see Rhodey walk through the doors of the Senate Committee and through the press. He walked over to his best friend and shook his hands, “Rhodes, hey good to see you man.” 

“I’m just here to say my part Tony,” Rhodey told him. 

“Of course, of course,” Tony shrugged, sitting next to his friend. 

“Thank colonel, I would like you to return you the full report you submitted to the board and turn to page 54, could you please read paragraph 4-”

“You want me to read a specific part of my own report?” Rhodey asked with a frown to match. 

“Yes,” the Senator nodded. 

“You do realise that pulling this out of context will-”

“I understand,” the Senator said. “Now, paragraph 4,” he motioned for Rhodey to continue.

Rhodey gave Tony a look and then turned to the page, clearing his throat. “As he does operate within any definable branch of government…” Rhodey turned to Tony, his friend giving him a smirk. “Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security to both the nation and to her interests.” He closed the report and turned to the Senator, “but if you read the rest of the report I did go on to explain, however, that the suit was a-”

“That will be all Colonel Rhodes. We would also like you to explain the imagery with which you sent to us a couple weeks ago,” Stern explained.   
Rhodey furrowed his brows, “I do not think the public are ready-”

“Oh they are,” Stern looked to the monitor and allowed the next set of images to be shown. “If you would, Colonel?”

Tony watched as images of different locations displayed blurred false-Iron Man suits being constructed. He edged forward on his seat, arching his brow in a questioning manner as he tilted his head to now face Rhodey, also wanting an explanation. “These are attempts around the world of people trying to make manned copies of the suit.”

Tony nodded and leant back on his chair again, discreetly taking out his phone. He didn’t make too much of a show that he was on his phone, but the idea of hiding it did thrill him, so Tony looked around the room as if he were waiting for a teacher to tell him off. His fingers moved light but fast, starting to tear code from code as he gained access into the firewalls of the Senate meeting walls. In simpler terms, he was hacking the damn place. 

“Ah ha!” he exclaimed and then looked up at the rest of the board who were now staring at him. “Sorry, don’t mind-” he pointed his phone at the television set and started to publicly hack the screen. “Me…” One click later he allowed his phone to connect to the imagery sets and sat back proudly, “Oh, I. Am. Good.” 

He put his phone away and smirked, “time for a little transparency, now let’s see what’s really going on.” He sat up straighter in his chair and puffed out his chest, finally showing that he cared for the first time since the meeting started. “If you direct your attention to the screens.” Tony looked at the video of the suits being made. “I believe that’s North Korea-” the video showcased a giant version of his suit being made but eventually toppling over until it changed again “-Iran,” he clicked on his phone.

“Can you-” the Senator stood up and pointed to a few of the tech securities “-Can you turn that off?” now flustered.

Tony gave a small smile to Rhodey, watching Hammer dash around the room to try and stop the television. “No, grave immediate threat here,” turning his head to face the next television set he allowed his voice to rise in a playful manner, “is that Justin Hammer?” The video showing Justin Hammer trying to create his own version of the suit until it combusted and you could hear someone off camera screaming. “How did he get here?” Tony asked sarcastically. 

“Where’s the plug?” Justin panicked, climbing over the players set and pulling at a bunch of wires. 

Tony continued to humour himself as everyone’s attention returned to the frantic movements of Hammer. “Justin, come on! Look you’re on TV, you’re gonna miss it,” he gave Rhodey a deadpanned looked whilst his friend tried hard not to look smug. But really, it was hard. 

“Wow, yeah I’d say… most countries 5-10 years away.” He gestured to Justin who finally walked over to the debate table having shut the TV down after a few unsuccessful attempts. “Hammer industries? 20.”

“I’d like to point out that that test pilot survived,” Justin quickly attempted to supply. 

“I think,” the Senator looked back at Tony Stark with disappointment. The billionaire bathed in the feeling of his ego boosting. “I think we’re done is the point of his making. I don’t- I don’t there’s any reason for-”

“Point is er- you’re welcome?” Tony lay his chin resting on the palm of his hand. “I guess.”

“For what?”

“Because! I’m your nuclear deterrent, it’s working,” Tony exasperated. “We’re safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can’t have it!” His hand had started to pound on the surface of the table he sat at, looking at the Senator and then at the people and press around him. “I have successfully privatized world peace.” Tony stood up and turned around, facing the rest of the people, away from the men that were trying to take away his suit.

They all stood up and clapped for him, “what more do you want?!” he shouted, letting them cheer him on. He spun back around and pointed accusingly at the people of the Senate, “I’m to play ball with these Asshats.”

“Fuck you Mr Stark,” the Senator called, “fuck you.” Tony smirked, finally having made the man snap. “We’re adjourned for the day.

“Okay,” he nodded, grabbing his tinted glasses and putting them on. “Good for you,” he turned around and started to walk out of the meeting room, “I serve this great Nation at the pleasure of… well, myself.” 

***

“Well… that went well,” Taeyong said, turning to look at Happy who was staring at the screen and nodding with a look of appreciation. “Do you think something bad is going to happen?” he asked.

“What do you mean kid?” Happy asked.

Taeyong pursed his lips at the word ‘kid’ but continued on. “Well, do you think something like what happened six months ago will happen again?”

Happy stared at Taeyong and shook his head, “it’s like what was shown on screen. Your dad’s right, it’ll take people 10 maybe 20 years to try and recreate his suit. No one can try to make that suit, they just don’t know how to.” 

Taeyong nodded and grabbed for the remote, “wanna watch something else?”

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

"You don't get it Pepper, I'm trying to make you CEO!" Tony finally managed to get out over Pepper's scolding. She finally stopped and stared at Tony in amazement. Taeyong who was sitting by his own desk and had turned off his own headphones, heard that part of their conversation. He bit the inside of his cheek, feeling his face heat up with an uncomfortable red painted over his features. 

"Yo- you what?" Pepper whispered, a slightly awed look adorned her features.

"You better believe it," Tony smiled.

Taeyong coughed and stood up from his seat. "I'm just- going to step out," but they weren't listening to him.


	16. You Can Have It!

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

During the Senate meeting, Stern tries his hardest to get the Iron Man suit in his grasp, with an edged-on Tony Stark who plays his cards right and never allows for that to happen. The Iron Man suit is his, it’s now a part of him and with it, he’s just brought world peace. When everyone is hell bent on trying to take his suit, he remains firm in his stance to protect it. 

Everyone’s trying to replicate, even Justin Hammer. 

***

Tony walked bright and early into his lab, Malibu Mansion and all. He grinned and with a skip to his step entered his pin, opened the lab door and strolled in through with the confidence of a thousand gods. “Wake up, Daddy’s home!” Tony called, his grin stretching further as everything around him started to buzz with life. 

Jarvis’ voice rang through the air, sharp and clear as always. “Welcome home, sir. Congratulations on the opening ceremonies. They were such a success, as was your Senate hearing. And may I say how refreshing it is to finally see you in a video with your clothing on, sir.” 

Tony chuckled under his breath, “smartass.” When a particular sound of a blender being used started up, Tony whirled around and squinted his eyes at one of the many robots in his lab “You!” Said robot (called You for now) was trying to make a smoothie, without the blender. After being called upon by Tony, the robot accidently knocked over the blender and Tony watched as the green liquid spilled across the floor. 

“I swear to G-d I’ll dismantle. I’ll soak your motherboard. I’ll turn you into a wine rack,” the threatened with ease, watching his device lower it’s mechanical crane, almost mimicking a dog pouting and looking down. Tony rolled his eyes and went over to pick up another smoothie, “how many ounces a day of this gobbledegook am I supposed to drink?” he asked, into the lab.

“We are up to 80 ounces a day to counteract the symptoms, sir.” Jarvis replied, effortlessly. 

“What symptoms?” a small voice asked.

Tony flinched and spun around to face his son, sitting by his desk, already up and early with his pajamas still on. “Right… how long have you been sitting there?”

“I slept here,” Taeyong replied, turning back to You (guess that’s the robot’s official name now) “please do clean up. There’s some wet wipes in the cupboard over there,” Taeyong waved his hand in a certain direction. 

Tony tilted his head and watched as his robot started to slowly drive itself over to their cleaning supply. He then went over to Taeyong and sat on his desk, looking down at his son, who was now spinning on his chair. “Right, why did you sleep down here?” Tony asked.

“Science project,” Taeyong said. 

“Young Taeyong was rewatching the Senate news and looking through your new Mark designs, Sir.” Jarvis answered.

Taeyong furrowed his brows and looked up at the ceiling, “snitch!” 

“Ah, ah, don’t fight. Right, well no more staying down here at night. There’s a reason why you have a bedroom. Go up and freshen… everything.”

Taeyong pouted but nodded, “they’re not taking the suits away are they?” 

Tony shook his head, “I sorted it out.” 

“Dad,” Taeyong exhaled largely, amusing Tony a great deal. “This isn’t Obadiah, this is the government. You know, the big guys. Mrs Johnny says that they’re very powerful and even harder to beat.” 

Tony grinned, “well it’s a good thing I’m just as powerful. Now seriously, go shower or something.” He poked Taeyong’s sides, smiling as the kids squirmed and giggled, pulling away to run back upstairs. Once Taeyong was gone Tony’s smile slowly withered away and he was met with reality. He took a chance to sit down in his own seat and take a sip of his green smoothie before he looked at his desktop. 

“Jarvis, check palladium levels,” he ordered.

“Blood toxicity, 24%. It appears that the continued use of the Iron Man suit is accelerating your conditions. Another core has been depleted.” 

Tony sighed, pursing his lips as he reached to pull his collar down and reach into his chest. He twisted the Arc Reactor out of his chest, feeling it pop out and rustle. The actual reactor itself was starting to smoke and Tony’s reaction to it was not the best. He felt his jaw set and shoulders tense as he watched the smoke slowly creep it’s way out of the electromagnet. The one thing that was stopping him from dying, was simultaneously killing him, it was so cliche it was almost poetic. 

“They’re running out quick,” he said softly, feeling the electronics around him also dim as if understanding the melancholy atmosphere. He let his eyes stray away from the toasting Arc Reactor and turn back to his computer. “Jarvis, any new developments?” 

“I have run simulations on every known element, and none can serve as a viable replacement for the palladium core.” 

Tony nodded silently, going through his desk drawer and pulling out a small box containing a row of palladium cores. A temporary fix until he find a much more permanent solution to his predicament. When he took out his rusted and crumpled palladium core and replaced it with the new one, the contrast is almost humorous if it wasn’t killing him. The sleek and smooth, silver should have served for an ending, but just… in the wrong way. 

Once he imputed the Arc Reactor, Tony’s attention lay on the screen in front of him, monitoring his health. Blue lines started to stretch around the holographic image on Tony’s Arc Reactor. The man himself felt his hand start to caress his chest area around the reactor, feeling subconsciously uncomfortable. 

“You are running out of both time and options,” Jarvis added. “Miss Potts is approaching. I recommend that you inform her…” 

“Mute,” Tony called, quickly spinning around in his chair to see Pepper and Taeyong (now dressed appropriately) walk over and tap in the pin. 

Taeyong quickly skipped over to his dad, whilst Tony stood up, allowing the younger to sit in his chair. “Good luck,” Taeyong said in a sing-song tune. 

Tony was about to ask why before Pepper’s voice cut off his thoughts. “Is this a joke? What were you thinking?” she said. Ahh, that’s what the kid meant. 

Tony lay on a lazy grin and walked around his desk, fiddling with his stuff as he looked over at Pepper’s exasperated face. “What?” 

“What were you thinking?” she repeated. 

“Hey, I’m thinking I’m busy. And you’re angry about something-” Tony sarcastically replied. He looked over at the redness on Pepper’s nose and cheek, “do you have the sniffles? I don’t want to get sick.” He quickly took a couple steps around one of the many cars he owned, distancing himself from his frantic assistant. 

Pepper breathed in carefully, which was really just adding to Tony’s theory on her being sick. “Did-” she started off very slowly. Oh, that was never good news. “You just… donate…”

“Keep your business,” Tony quickly said, walking around his car, when he noticed Pepper approaching him like some sort of predator. He really wasn’t feeling like prey then.

“Our entire modern art collection to the- to the-”

“Boy Scouts of America,” Tony confirmed,

“Boy Scouts of America?” Pepper whispered. 

“Yes,” Tony nodded, like it made all the sense in the world. “It’s a worthwhile organisation. I didn’t physically check the creates but, basically, yes. And it’s not ‘our’ collecting, it’s my collection,” he added. Pepper seemed to glare really well, “no offence.” 

“No you know what? I think I’m actually entitled to say ‘our’ collecting considering the time that I put in, over 10 years, curating that.” 

“I’m just… going to listen to some tunes,” Taeyong called, looking between his dad and Pepper before plopping on some headphones and turning to the computer screen. 

Tony shrugged, “it was a tax write-off, I needed that.” 

Pepper had crossed her arms at this point and when Tony checked closely, he could see her poking her tongue against her cheek. Really not in the mood for his excuses, but it really wasn’t like he needed anything anymore. That was the sad part, he didn’t need his possessions and he couldn’t tell anyone that. “You know, there’s only about 8,011 things I really need to talk to you about.” 

Tony nodded, eyes falling over to another on his robots, “hey Dummy! Hey, stop spacing out. The Bridgeport’s already machining that part.” he flicked the robot and watched it get back to work. 

“The Expo is a gigantic waste of time,” Pepper said. 

Tony nodded, “and I need you to wear a surgical mask until you’re feeling better. Is that okay?” 

“That’s rude.”

“There’s nothing more important to me that the Expo. It’s my primary point of concern. I don’t know why you’re-”

“The Expo is your ego gone crazy,” Pepper said, following Tony around the lab. They both managed to walk straight past Taeyong, who was watching them intently, still listening to his music. 

Tony picked up a painting of Iron Man, “wow look at that. That’s modern art that is. That’s going up,” he said, walking around to his coffee area. 

Pepper continued to follow him, trying to get her point across. “Stark is in complete disarray. You understand that?" 

“Our stocks have never been higher.”

“Yes, from a managerial standpoint.” 

“If it’s messy then let’s double back,” Tony hopped onto the coffee counter and looked at a piece of modern art already on his wall. 

“No no no no, you are not taking down the Barnett Newman and hanging that up,” she waved her hands to the Iron Man painting. 

“I’m not taking it down, I’m just replacing it,” he said, as he took the painting down and hung up his own. 

“Look, listen to me,” she stressed. “We have already awarded contracts to the wind farm people. And to the plastic plantation tree. Those people are on a payroll, but you won’t make a decision.” 

Tony turned around, sitting on his coffee counter and shrugging, “I don't care about the liberal agenda any more. It’s boring. Boring,” he repeated. “It’ giving you a boring alert,” hopping off the counter, he made sure to give distance when walking around her. “You do it.” 

“Do what?” 

“Excellent idea! You run the company!” 

Pepper scoffed, “um- I’m trying?”

“No,” Tony turned back around, “I mean you run the company. Don’t try, just do.”   
“But you’re not giving me information-”

“No I mean run the company. Like physically do it.” 

“I’m trying-”

“You’re not listening to me Pepper!” 

“No, you’re not listening to me.

"You don't get it Pepper, I'm trying to make you CEO!" Tony finally managed to get out over Pepper's scolding. She finally stopped and stared at Tony in amazement. Taeyong, who was sitting by his own desk and had turned off his own headphones, heard that part of their conversation. He bit the inside of his cheek, feeling his face heat up with an uncomfortable red painted over his features. 

"Yo- you what?" Pepper whispered, a slightly awed look adorned her features.

"You better believe it," Tony smiled.

Taeyong coughed and stood up from his seat. "I'm just- going to step out," but they weren't listening to him.

“You- have you been drinking?” Pepper asked.

“Chlorophyll. I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries effective immediately. Yeah, done deal. Okay? I’ve actually given this a fair amount of thought, believe it or not. Doing a bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to find out how to get all the legality things done and dusted but yeah. I realised it’s you.” Tony looked to find his robots rolling in with two glasses of champagne, he took both and handed one to Pepper.

“I- I don’t know what to think.” 

“Don't think. Drink, there you go,” Tony smiled, taking a sip of his own. 

“What- what about Taeyong?” 

“Huh?” Tony looked up to find an empty chair and then looked back at Pepper, “I’ll uh- I’ll talk to him about that.” 

NEXT TIME ON: LEAGUE OF SUPERHEROES

Taeyong stared at the lady in front of him with wide and sparkling eyes, "do you think you can teach me?" he asked.

The lady flipped her red hair over her shoulders and gave Taeyong a small smile, the boy blushed a thousand shades red. "Maybe kid. Have a nice day," she said, getting out of the boxing ring and facing his dad with confidence to rival Pepper's. 

"Wow..." Taeyong breathed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that it's taken a month and a week to update!!!! literally the only reason i can give to excuse my poor updating and time management skills is that there's a lot of college work i have to do now that i'm actually in college. which is a lot different to school, but hey! i guess that's how adult life is now...
> 
> but also, mentally i haven't been feeling up to writing? i don't know, it was scary to find that i had no motivation to write, because this is usually my safe space and where i have the freedom to really do what i want, with everything in my power. without writing; my mental health deteriorates tremendously, so you can imagine how badly shit got in that month of m.i.a. but i'm back now and i hope to get into the feeling of writing again. i'm probably going to be easing myself back into it, but i will continue to update this fic and my other works. 
> 
> please be patient with me! and thank you for making it all the way up to here!!


	17. No one explain the rules!

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Tony has started to donate and give away his prized possessions all freely, making Pepper almost lose her head at how irresponsible he’s becoming. Yes, the Stark Industries company is flourishing, but with a CEO to make decisions, there’s no one to actually take control. When confronting Tony about this, he pulls a reverse uno card. 

It is now Pepper that becomes the CEO. 

***

Taeyong was with his dad and Happy, playing around in their boxing ring when a frazzled looking Pepper rushed in complaining about documents and signatures. “What’s that?” Taeyong asked, skipping over to the end of the boxing ring and leaning his head on the rope (something he wasn’t supposed to do but continued to do so anyway). Pepper had been taking a lot more control of the company and since then, she’s been working more with a lot of stress overtaking her. 

“I need Tony to sign a couple documents, do you think you can get your dad out of there?” Pepper asked.

Taeyong turned around looking at Tony and Happy, currently sparring, “I don’t think so. Dad said that no one can interrupt on Happy hour. And it’s Happy’s hour,” he explained. 

“Well it’s about to be Pepper’s hour. Tony get down from there!” the lady shrieked. 

Taeyong flinched and covered his ears, turning around and shaking his head, “she’s a screamer. Good luck,” he quickly pushed his dad out of the way and started to spar with Happy. The man held out his pads whilst Taeyong started to punch them. 

“The notary’s here! Can you please sign the transfer paperwork?” she asked.

“I’m on happy time,” Tony said. Taeyong gave Pepper a look to which she rolled her eyes and turned back to Tony, “Excuse me.” He returned and picked up Taeyong, letting the boy be at Happy’s height so he could jab at the man in his elbow. 

“Ow what was that?!” said man exclaimed, rubbing his elbow.

Taeyong shrugged, “sorry Happy. It’s called mixed martial arts, I watched a film on it with dad.”

“It’s called dirty boxing is what it is. No more watching martial arts films,” he ordered.

Taeyong turned around in Tony’s arms and pouted at his dad, “the man who’s letting me watch murder mystery shows is banning me from watching fighting films. You just can’t win!” he flailed his arms into the air and tutted whilst walking out of his dad's arms. 

“All right then,” Tony shook his head and lifted his arms for Happy, “Put them up, come on.” 

The notary then walks in, allowing for all three Happy, Tony and Taeyong to shift their attention to her. A lady wearing a dark suit that curved over her body in all the right ways walked up to Pepper. Taeyong blinked and whispered a small “she’s so pretty.” 

“Yeah nope, too young,” Tony pulled his gloved hand over his son’s eyes. Taeyong grabbed his dad’s hands and pulled them away, running out of the boxing ring. 

Happy gave Tony’s distracted head a light punch with his pads, not enough to hurt, but just the right amount of pressure in order to grab his bosses attention. “Lesson one. Never take your eye off—” Tony kicked Happy’s speech, watching him crash into the corner of the ring before he looked back over at Pepper and the Notary.

“That’s it. I’m done. What’s your name, lady?” 

“Rushman!” she perked up, “Natalie Rushman.” 

“Front and centre Rushman. Come into the church,” he motioned over.

Pepper stared with disbelieving eyes as Natalie as if to apologize for her rowdy boss. “No. You’re seriously not gonna ask…”

“If it pleases the court—”

“Which it does,” Taeyong called from the water dispenser. All adults turning to stare at him, momentarily forgetting the boy was there. “Hey um… what you guys staring at?”

“Is he…” Tony pointed at Taeyong, but his eyes were on Pepper, ”allowed to be here?”

“N-no,” Pepper said, quickly walking over to Taeyong. “This is just an intern!” she informed Natalie. 

“Okay Miss Potts,” said Notary answered. She continued to walk over to the ring, climbing inside, staring at Tony with lust. 

Tony stared back, not one to turn down a challenge, “Can you give her a lesson?” he called to Happy, climbing out of the ring himself and walking over to Pepper who was having a silent argument with Taeyong. 

“I need you to leave,” she whispered.

“I don’t wanna!” the younger whispered back, but with a lot more passion for a nine year-old. “Why can’t I stay?”

“Because—” Pepper stressed, turning to Tony for help.

“She’s already seen him, let him stay,” the billionaire shrugged. 

“I’m right here, what are you two talking about?” Taeyong squinted his eyes at the two.

“Nothing,” Pepper quickly dismissed, before sighing and rubbing her temples. “Alright then. Alright,” she hissed, more to herself then anyone else. She slumped into one of the pristine white couches and looked up at both Stark’s. “Just carry on with your dues…”

Taeyong sat down next to Pepper and watched as his dad sat on the other side. “Who is she?” Tony asked.

“What?” Pepper turned to him with confusion written all over her face. Something that seemed to be covering her face a lot these days. 

“Natalie,” Taeyong supplied.

Pepper turned to look at Taeyong who was just as interested, she rolled her eyes once again. Both Stark’s were just as bad as each other. “She’s from legal if you both must know. And she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that,” she batted at Tony. 

“I need a new assistant, boss.” Tony called, looking at Pepper with a gleaming smile. 

Taeyong scoffed, “I need an assistant. Being nine is hard you know?” 

Pepper snorted and sat laughing, “well I already have three excellent potential candidates. They’re lined up and ready to meet you.”

Tony pursed his lips, “I don’t have time to meet. I need someone now. I feel like it’s her.”

“No it’s not.”

Taeyong, Tony and Pepper all shifted their focus to Natalie Rushman and Happy. 

“You ever boxed before?” Happy questioned, putting up his pads and allowing his stance to move freely, after looking the smaller lady over and thinking her not a threat. 

“I have... yes,” Natalie nodded.

“What, like Tae Boa? Booty boot camp? Crunch?” the older teased, moving quick on his feet— “Something like that?” he laughed at her annoyed face. 

“How do I spell your name, Natalie?” Tony called.

She looked over to the billionaire, “R-U-S-H-M-A-N.” 

“What are googling her now?” Pepper asked, exasperated. 

“I thought he was ogling her,” Taeyong smirked.

“Don’t be smart with me,” Pepper said. 

“Okay,” Taeyong said, sitting back down. He sighed and let his body fall on the rest of the sofa, looking at Happy and Natalie’s not-fight. Whilst his dad and Pepper continued to talk over his head. 

“Wow, very impressive individual.”

“You’re so predictable you know that?” 

“She’s fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin. Who speaks Latin?”

“No one speaks Latin. It’s a dead language. You can read Latin or you can write Latin, but you can’t speak Latin.”

“Did you model in Tokyo? ‘Cause she’s modelled in Tokyo.”

“Well…”

“I need her. She’s got everything that I need.” 

Taeyong sighed again, but this time louder. Still no attention was brought to the younger. “I could learn Latin,” he mumbled. 

Happy grinned back at Natalie, who was still staring at Tony. “Rule number one, never take your eyes off your opponent.” He went to take a swing, but Natalie grabbed his hand. Twisting it forcefully up and then flipping him over, jumping up and wrapping her legs around his head. She made a small noise as they both landed on the ground but seemed pretty comfortable. 

“Holy shit!” Taeyong exclaimed, jumping up from his lying position and racing over.

“Happy?!” Pepper shouted.

Tony simply chuckled, “that’s what I’m talking about!— Wait, did you just swear?”

Taeyong jumped into the ring, landing on his stomach and sliding over to Happy, helping the older man sit up. Natalie got up and dusted herself off with a careful hand, looking almost elegant in doing so. Taeyong stared at the lady in front of him with wide and sparkling eyes, "do you think you can teach me?" he asked.

The lady flipped her red hair over her shoulders and gave Taeyong a small smile, the boy blushed a thousand shades red. "Maybe kid. Have a nice day," she said, getting out of the boxing ring and facing his dad with confidence to rival Pepper's. 

"Wow..." Taeyong breathed. 

“Just… I need your impression,” she told Tony. 

“You have quite the reserve. I don’t know, you have an old soul,” he said. 

“I meant your fingerprint,” she pulled out a couple documents and had Tony press his thumb into ink before it landed on the paper. 

“Right,” he muttered.

“So, how are we doing?” Pepper asked, walking over to them. 

“Great. Just wrapping things up. Hey,” he smiled over to her, “you’re the boss.” 

“Will that be all, Mr Stark?” Natalie asked him, staring at the man with a gleam in her eyes. 

“No—”

“Yes, that will be all Ms. Rushman. Thank you very much,” Pepper quietly excused, the smile she plastered on her face seemed stretched and forced. Taeyong walked over to the two once Happy had limped his way over to he sofas and got himself comfortable enough to start ranting about Natalie and how everyone was exempt from boxing if they didn’t follow the rules. 

“I want one,” Tony said. 

“No,” Pepper answered without a second’s thought.

“Cool, I’ll have one then,” Taeyong grinned. His dad chuckled but ruffled the boys hair as Pepper walked away. 

***

Taeyong had gone to many of the Grand Prix races that his dad bought, a lot of which contained the youngers excitement with cars and the mechanics behind it all. The younger boy loved to help his dad work with the newest technology that seemed fit for a nine year-old to do but also became astounded as the ideas he thought up, he got the pleasure of actually seeing it come to life. Tony had taught him that no idea was too small and that no matter what, they could always create new designs.

A lesson that Taeyong took to heart when he realised that something was wrong with his dad. He didn’t know the extent of what was going on, but there was a general shift in the man’s behaviour. From his acts of selfless desire and overall ego inflation with Stark Expo, yes, Taeyong knew something was up. 

He just needed to find a way to figure out what it was going on. Taeyong waved goodbye to Tony when they separated from their trip in France. Point one being that apparently he was not allowed to be with Pepper and Tony during their meeting, because it seemed important. So Taeyong was stuck with Happy, prancing around France for their first day and then looking over the race by the second.

It was currently the second and Taeyong was having an insider’s lesson on all things car related by the people that managed Tony’s car. His dad had a whole team, with a racer that Taeyong liked, he was very nice and always patient when teaching Taeyong how to race. The boy liked the thrill of it all, so he sat down and let one of the mechanics, a younger girl this time, teach him about the new wheels they just installed. 

Happy was by the doors, overlooking Tony’s meeting and making sure that Taeyong was safe. “So do you think I can help install one of the wheels?” he asked, batting his lashes and giving the younger girl a big grin. 

She furrowed his brows with a sort of worried look, turning in her seat to stare at the head mechanics guy and shrugging, “I don’t think I have enough power to let you do that little man,” her tone apologetic. 

“Oh,” Taeyong pouted.

“But, I can still show you the trial wheels, wanna fix up one of those?” she asked. Taeyong quickly nodded, standing up from the uncomfortable stools they provided him with and took the end of her uniform so he wouldn't get lost weaving in and out of the crowded space.

Taeyong quickly turned around and gave Happy a wave, the man simply nodding his head and keeping a keen eye on the younger boy. When they got to the wheels, Taeyong was staring up at a lot of different kinds, ranging in sizes, fits and sometimes overall aesthetic. She taught him which parts go where, how to fill up a type with air and when to stop. He got the chance to change wheels with a dummy car they have on hand and grinned with slow understanding of how to change a tire. 

“Thank you for teaching me,” he smiled, blinking up at the girl.

“No problem kid—” her eyes looked over to Happy and the previous smile she had on her face slowly slips, “hey uh— I think your guy is calling for you.”

Taeyong spun around to find Happy barrelling over to him with a great amount of force. “Happy?”

“We have to go, your dad is driving.”

“What?” Taeyong questioned, letting Happy take him and quickly drag him out of the warehouse. His eyes shifted over to the other drivers and found the driver his dad paid for the race, shout in confusion and without a car. That was when he realised his dad was literally driving in the race. “Wha— does dad even know how to race?!”

“Uh… I don’t know. We’re getting to Pepper and then to the car.” 

“Okay ye-yeah.” Taeyong didn’t know what was going on, but he did know that he wasn’t allowed to go out in public. For what reason? He didn’t question that, sometimes there was things that he knew he should ask about and he respected that. Or frustratedly tried to best acknowledge, as much as a nine year-old could. So when Happy, Pepper and Taeyong were walking (read: running frantically) to their car, he froze momentarily at the array of cameras flashing in his face. 

Was this allowed? Who’s to say?

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong and Pepper continued to shout out to Happy, telling him to stop before he seriously started to cause real damage. "Happy! Happy don't!—" Taeyong felt his body slam forward into Happy's seat and he gasped out as a sharp pain flared from his chin. Crying out in pain, he didn't have time to fully register that their car had come to a stop. 

Only when he heard his dad shouting for him did he finally take in everything at once. "Taeyong!"


	18. An introduction to Ivan Vanko

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

We’re introduced to Natalie Rushman, a notary that’s simply there to help ease Pepper’s transition into the CEO of Stark Industries. But she becomes more after full body slamming Happy to the ground of a boxing ring and Taeyong’s suddenly developing his first crush. On an assistant of all people. 

They all head to France together when Tony decides to follow his impulse and race in the Grad Prix. 

***

Taeyong was quickly ushered into the car, Pepper pulling up right behind and a frantic Natalie quickly on the phone as she looked at the three like they were insane. To be fair, this wasn’t the worst thing Taeyong’s done. “What are you doing here?!” Pepper yelled, finally noticing Taeyong sitting in the back seat. 

Taeyong quickly pointed to Happy, outing the man for being irresponsible. “Happy?! The public!”

“Not right now!” the man shouted.

Taeyong didn’t have enough time to put on his seat belt when the car lugged forward and he was pushed back. “Do you know how to use this?” Pepper questioned, showing him his dad’s briefcase. 

The younger kid shook his head, “it’s accessed through dad. Only he can use it,” he explained. His tiny body slid from his seat and left him crashing into Pepper and the briefcase, making them all groan. “Happy! Please! You’re driving is terrible!” Taeyong scolded from under the briefcase. Pepper quickly helped him push it off his tiny chest and patted his hair down. 

Taeyong crawled on the seats and looked forward at the track, that’s what they were on. He didn’t know if that was legal or if it was even safe. “I am way too young to die,” he said, before the car came to a halt and he flew in the back seats again. He groaned and looked around at Pepper who didn’t seem to be doing any better, “should we hire a new driver?” he joked. 

She cracked a faint smile but quickly screamed when a line of electricity passed through the front view. Taeyong flinched and blinked up harshly, a man was standing in the tracks. He was wearing a similar suit to his dads but it was more weathered, almost an old prototype. But that was impossible. No one knew how to make the suit expect his dad… and this new guy apparently.

Almost everyone seems to be screaming, Happy revving up the engine with Pepper shouting orders to go. Taeyong remained silent as the commentary from the sports hosts quickly shouted in fast French what seemed to be going on. A whip made out of metal and live electricity came cracked in the air like a violent beast and came crashing down on racing cars. Everything stilled when Taeyong saw his father’s car drive right to the crash and almost met the same fate of being whipped in half. 

“Dad!” Taeyong shots just as loudly as the people in the car calling for Tony. They all watch as the man with the whip and suit continue to tauntingly break away at the car. Tony somehow pulled up from behind him and swung a piece of car debris at his back. Taeyong felt himself exhale heavily in relief, his dad was fine. Everything was going to be alright. 

They both continue to fight but anyone could tell it was biased fight. One had a super suit and the other had to fight with sheets of metal and whatever experience he could. Taeyong watched in desperate fear as his father fell to the ground and quickly roll away from being whipped in half. “Everyone hold on!” Happy shouted. 

“Happy no!” 

“Happy don’t!” 

Taeyong and Pepper continued to shout out to Happy, telling him to stop before he seriously started to cause real damage. "Happy! Happy don't!—" Taeyong felt his body slam forward into Happy's seat and he gasped out as a sharp pain flared from his chin. Crying out in pain, he didn't have time to fully register that their car had come to a stop. 

Only when he heard his dad shouting for him did he finally take in everything at once. "Taeyong!" 

Tears immediately descended from his eyes as sobs wracked from his tired and bruised body. “Dad!” he wailed, lifting his head and meeting the eyes of his worried father. Tony moved and scrambled to the car. 

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Happy panted heavily, after having literally driven the man into the fence on the tracks. 

“No,” Taeyong dribbled, rubbing his chin. When he pulled his hand away he was met with blood, causing panic to override his system. Taeyong screamed, scrambling to wipe the blood away. 

“Taeyong! Happy what were you thinking?!” Tony shouted.

“I was trying to scare him!”

“Are you out of your mind?!” Pepper screamed. 

“Better security!” Tony quipped.

Taeyong felt his ears ring loud with everyone starting to scream and shout around him. His eyes squeezed shut until his temples hurt and then looked up to the man that had attacked his dad. Their eyes made contact and Taeyong watched with a stilted voice as his dad opened the car door and a whip cut it in half. Taeyong's body lurched with the car as Happy reversed and hit the man again. He quickly grabbed the briefcase and threw it at his dad. 

The car sliced right in half, separating Pepper and Taeyong, barely scraping the younger seat when it carved the middle seat. Taeyong rolled himself out of the car along with Pepper and Happy when they all realised that the car was now getting sliced like a knife going through a mushroom. Weird analogy but it makes sense. 

Tony stood on the case and was immediately enclosed in his Iron Man suit, crawling up along his body and covering him head to toe in metal. “Taeyong!” Pepper screamed. 

The boy looked around her in confusion when he felt his dad’s body cover him up and the twisted cracking sound of the whip come down on his back. Taeyong wrapped his arms around his father’s neck and let the man carry him as one hand open and shot at the man with the whips. Taeyong looked away when the light started to blind him slightly, he curled into his dad finally at peace but also not starting to register the dull ache in his head and chin. 

“It’s okay now,” Tony called, Taeyong felt a human hand card through his hair and the scratchy feel of his dad’s goatee as the man gently kissed his forehead. 

“Dad,” Taeyong sniffed, hugging the man tighter. 

“Let’s get out here, bud.”

***

Tony walked with an aura of godlike presence, French police officers and other staff within the holding facility all failing to match his serious and angry frame. His eyes stayed forward and rushed and panicked French was spoken to him. “ _ We ran his prints. We got nothing back, sir. Not even a name,” _ the police officer explained. 

“ _ Where are we going? _ ” Tony asked in French. 

“ _ Over there, We’re not even sure he speaks English. He hasn’t said a word since he got here.”  _

Tony nodded and finally turned down to stare at the smaller French officer, “ _ five minutes _ .”

The man nodded, opening the heavy metal doors and bowing his head slightly. “ _ Five minutes. _ ” he confirmed. 

Tony felt a mask slip over his face, one full of arrogance and carefree rich stigma. He looked down at the man who was stripped down to the filthy clothes on his bare back. “Pretty decent tech,” Tony said, walking around to face the man. “Cycles per second were a little low. You could have doubled up your rotations. You focused the repulsor energy through ionised plasma channels. It’s effective,” Tony shrugged with a smug little smile, “not very efficient. But it’s a passable knock-off. 

“I don’t get it. A little fine tuning you could have made a solid paycheck. You could have sold it to North Korea, China, Iran, or gone onto the black market.” Tony stopped and stared at the man in question. “You like you got friends in low places.” 

The man grunted, “You come from a family of thieves and butchers. And now, like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your own history. And you forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed.” Tony felt his jaw clench but didn’t want to show the man that he had got to him. And deeply so. 

He scoffed and stood up higher, turning back to the door. “Speaking of thieves, where did you get his design?” 

“My father, Anton Vanko.” 

Tony rolled his eyes, “well I’ve never heard of him.” 

“My father is the reason you’re alive.” 

Tony turned back to the man with a glare to kill, “the reason I’m alive is ‘cause you have a shot, you took it, you missed. Then you went for my son, so don’t.” 

“Did I?” Ivan finally turned his head and looked Tony right in the eyes. “If you can G-d bleed, the people will cease to believe in him, and there will be blood in the water. And the sharks will come. The truth, all I have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you.” 

The man really did know how to get his words to crawl under your skin. Tony would not lose though, he never did. “Where will you watch the world consume me from? That’s right. A Prison cell. I’ll send you a bar of soap,” Tony got up to leave, his hands clammy as they pressed into the door handle. 

“Hey, Tony. Before you go, palladium in the chest, painful way to die.” 

Tony gulped and left the cell. 

***

Taeyong watched from the television as Senator Stern started to sprout utter nonsense. “ _ It’s just unbelievable. It proves that the genie is out of the bottle and this man has no idea what he’s doing. He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy. I was at a hearing with Mr STark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can’t exist anywhere else, don’t exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for five to ten years, and here we are in Monaco realised ‘These suits exist now,’-”  _

“Mute,” Tony called. He sat down on his private jet chairs and set down some food. “He should be giving me a medal. That’s the truth,” Tony opened the food to showcase some type of fish dish. He peered at Taeyong and leant over to lightly rub and check at his chin. It had a pretty big plaster on it, covering his entire chin. “How you holding up bud?”

“Okay,” Taeyong replied quietly. He shifted over to take a fork and eat some of his dad’s food but opening his mouth hurt. He started to whine, deciding to simple rest his head on the table and wallow in self-pity. Tony stroked his hair softly, petting his quietly. 

“Tony what are you not telling me?” Pepper said. 

“I don’t want to go home. At all. Let’s cancel my birthday party and… we’re in Europe. Let’s go to Venice, Cipriani. We still have time to tell the pilot to just swerve.” Pepper gave him a disappointed look and motioned over to Taeyong who had started to flip through his dad's phone. “We leave Taeyong at home and then go.” 

Taeyong whined, “it’s my chin that hurts, not my ears.” 

“Sorry,” Tony said. Taeyong got up and went round to sit next to his dad, seeking comfort. Tony pulled an arm around Taeyong’s smaller body and tucked the boy into his side whilst he looked at Pepper. Taeyong quickly falling asleep in his hold. 

“I’m guessing the public knows.” 

Pepper frowned but nodded, “they haven’t confirmed anything because we haven’t yet. We could make a cover-”

“And what? Claim that he was just in the car? That he’s a son of a friend? That he’s a son of someone else? He’s mine, Pepper,” Tony said defensively. “We’ll tell the press, let them eat up the fact that I have a son, it would mean that they’ll forget about the Iron Man fiasco.” 

“For now,” Pepper warned. She looked down at Taeyong sadly, “he’s getting in the way. We’re kind in a mess.”

“Yeah well that’s parenting,” Tony tried to shrug off. It seemed like Pepper wanted to confront him all now in the confinement of the plane. 

“No. You’re not a parent- or at least a normal one. Let’s think about this realistically and see the options here,” Pepper stated. “Taeyong is your biological son. He grew up with his mother who OD’d on recreational drugs. He could have easily lived fine with his mother. Statistically, he would have either become a druggy himself or he would have ended up in jail or dead. You took him in. He went from being poor to suddenly the son of a billionaire. 

“Like most sons and daughters of parents that are CEO’s of a billion dollar company, he would have been taught and expected to become the rising heir. Which is stressful but he would have grown up well. Now what Tony? He’s the son of a superhero with apparently a lot of enemies. Not just villains with powers but the media? How are you going to possibly help him? Keep him safe?” she questioned. 

Tony stared ahead from Pepper, knowing she was right. But he promised to not leave Taeyong… there was no choice in the matter. Tony wasn’t going to last long, the last he checked his blood toxicity levels were at a dangerous level, he would have to try and find something to cure him or he was doing to burn out. “What do you suggest?”

“Mrs Suh is more than equipped to take a third child in. She just needs the funds and to move in somewhere better-”

“I get it. Just-” Tony sighed heavily, the weight of everything crushing his shoulders. He stared down at Taeyong and his chin. He was so lucky he only came out with that scratch and a couple of bruises. “Let’s wait till we’re home.” 

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong and Rhodey stared at each other with slight fright before turning back to Tony. He looked at his son and then at his best friend before rolling his eyes, "I'm not dying, I just need a change. Help me would you?" Taeyong looked back at Rhodey and gave him a slight nod, silently telling the man to help his father. There was nothing to be done if Tony didn't want anyone to know. 

"You have to tell us what's going on, Tony." 


	19. The making of War Machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just in case you guys don't know, editing is the bane of my existence, so no... i do not edit my work. i usually glance over anything but if there's spelling errors i apologise and hope that you can just understand what i was trying to say.

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong, Happy and Pepper literally crash right into the Grand Prix in order to save Tony. In doing so, Taeyong gets himself a nasty cut on the chin, Ivan Vanko trying to whip Happy’s car and completely destroy and of course Pepper’s endless screaming and commotion. 

But hey, at least his dad is there to save him. 

***

Pepper and Natalie Rushman were frantically picking up calls here and there in order to add some sense to the commotion that had been taking place for the first week of coming back home. Tony and Taeyong had collectively decided to reside in their safe space, the familiar labs downstairs. Taeyong wasn’t down at the current moment, instead he was perched on a chair and drinking some juice whilst he stared at the bizarre picture of Pepper and Natalie; both walking around with phones to their ears. 

Few words were spoken between the two collectively, but either way, they were chatting up a storm to whichever news person, senate or general shareholder who wanted to know about the latest news. 

“Yes,” Pepper said on the phone. Taeyong took a long sip of his juice, staring at the two interestingly. “But the fundamentals of the company are still very, very strong despite the events in Monaco.” Taeyong slightly lifted his eyebrows and stretched his lips into a thin line, pretending that the ‘events at Monaco’ didn’t happen. 

“Yes of course,” Natalie said, talking to whoever it was on the line with her. She turned to Pepper, “The AP wants a quote.” 

Pepper shook her head, “Don’t tell them. Fax them…” 

Taeyong’s immediate attention went to the door. He gave out a cheerful noise and set his glass down, padding over to a very serious looking James Rhodes. “Uncle Rhodes!” he called, hugging the man close when he got to him. 

Rhodey gave Taeyong a quick hug and turned to nod at Pepper politely. “What’s up little man? Wanna tell me where your dad is?”

Taeyong nodded and grabbed Rhodey’s arm, pulling him along to the stairs that led down to the labs. “I came up to get some juice. Dad’s been down here since last night. I think he slept down here,” Taeyong babbled, his hands still clutched onto Rhodey’s as he made his way down stairs. The lights were dim and there seemed to be something projecting on screen because Tony had his entire focus on it. 

Rhodey waited patiently as Taeyong put in the passcode to open the door and they both made their way inside the labs. Tony looked drained in Rhodey’s honest opinion; his eyes were dim but cold, whatever was on screen, was a serious matter. He was sitting rather haphazardly in a sports car, focus simply on the screen projection but with the little shift of his chin, Rhodey knew that Tony had acknowledged their presence. 

Taeyong scurried past Rhodey to climb into the car with his dad, sitting down beside him and staring at the screen. A hologram passed through to show small newspaper files on a certain familiar face.

“Query complete sir. Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1963. However, he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. His son, Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan, and served 15 years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist,” Jarvis explained.

Rhodey stood in front of the projection, “Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now.” He made eye contact with Taeyong before turning back to the tired billionaire “Listen. I’ve been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these. They’re gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? 

"They’re sick of games. You said nobody else would possess this technology for another 20 years. Well guess what? Somebody else had it a week ago and almost killed you. It’s not theoretical anymore. Are you listening to me?” Rhodey furrowed his brows, “are you okay?” 

“Dad?” Taeyong called softly, shaking his father’s shoulder. 

Tony coughed and got up from the car seat, “let’s go then.” Taeyong allowed for his dad to get out of the car but didn’t account for him almost collapsing the moment he stood on solid ground. “Dad!”

“Hey man. Hey, hey!” Rhodey quickly pulled Tony to his feet, heaving the man and using his body as a crutch. “You all alright?”

“Y-yeah,” Tony blinked for a couple seconds before shaking his head. “I should get to my desk.” Taeyong placed his hand on his dad’s back and walked alongside Rhodey as he helped his father sit down on his chair (mostly though he just kind of slumped in it pathetically) and took a breather. “See that cigar box?” Tony lolled his head to the side. Taeyong ran around the desk to retrieve the small box, holding it out to Rhodey. The older man took it and slid open the cigar box to reveal small chip-like devices. There were obvious cavities to show that a few had been used but a good couple remained. 

“What-”

“It’s palladium, right?” Taeyong asked, leaning over Rhodey’s hand to look at the contents. 

Tony nodded and lowered the collar of his shirt, carefully twisting his arc reactor and slowly pulling it out. The insides started to smoke out, “Is that supposed to be smoking?” Rhodey voiced. 

Taeyong and Rhodey stared at each other with slight fright before turning back to Tony. The man looked at his son and then at his best friend before rolling his eyes, "I'm not dying, I just need a change. Help me would you?" Taeyong looked back at Rhodey and gave him a slight nod, silently telling the man to help his father. There was nothing to be done if Tony didn't want anyone to know. 

"You have to tell us what's going on, Tony." 

Tony sighed almost heavily and with solace at the ease of having a newly restored palladium chip in his system. He closed his arc reactor and turned back to the two, “If you must know, it’s neutron damage. It’s from a reactor wall.” 

“You had this in your body?” Rhodey questioned, his face showing slightly disgust before zeroing on Tony’s neck. “And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?” His fingers dipped at the collar to reveal almost geometrical vein-like imprints on Tony’s shoulder and collar, crawling it’s way to his neck. 

Taeyong couldn't hold the gasp from his lips, “are you poisoned?!” 

Tony patted the young boys shoulder, “No. It’s road rash,” he turned his attention to Rhodey. “What are you looking at?” 

“I’m looking at you. You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act and it’s unnecessary. You don’t have to do this alone.”

Tony took his time to stare at the two faces before him. “You know… I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you’ve gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I’m doing.” 

***

It was May 29th, you know what that means. Happy birthday to the one and only Tony Stark! As fake as every other birthday that Tony had celebrated, the idea of his current one felt just as fraudulent as the rest. Yes he spent a jovial and gala time almost killing himself in alcoholism and summing up most events with an anti-climatic sense of dreaded euphoria, now Tony had the perfect excuse to not celebrate his birthday. 

For once, he had been handed, on a silver platter, the perfect get-away from returning to that arrogant mask of indifference. He could wallow and drown himself in all the self-pity one could possibly possess when they’ve just found out how close to death they were. Except, a part of him, the selfish part of him reminded him that it was his last birthday. _Why not go out with a bang?_ it whispered delicately, almost singing through the bud of a newly bloomed flower.

He stood in front of his full length mirror and stared at the rash growing around his arc reactor, like thorns on a rose coiling around prey. Natalie entered his room, stopping by to look through his thousand accessories. “Do you know what you’d like to wear tonight, Mr Stark?” she asked. 

Tony tilted his head, “I’ll give them a look... I should cancel the party.” 

“Probably,” she agreed.

“Yeah. ‘Cause it’s…”

“Ill-timed,” she supplied. 

“Right,” he nodded. “Sends a wrong message,” he thought over. 

“Inappropriate,” she whispered, careful steps taken towards him with a drink in hand. He drank it in sips. “Is that dirty enough for you?” 

Tony licked his lips, staring at Natalie through his mirror, “gold face, brown hand. The Jaegat. I’ll give that a look. Bring them over,” he said, putting his drink down and sitting on his couch. Natalie handed him the box of neatly displayed watches, “I’ll take that. Why don't you…” Tony watched with calculated eyes as Natalie sat down on the arm of his chair. 

“I gotta say it. It’s hard to get a read on you. Where are you from?” 

“Legal,” she replied. 

“Can I ask you a question, hypothetically? Bit odd. If this was your last birthday part you were ever gonna have, how would you spend it?” Knowing her answer, Tony let the woman make his decision for him.

“I’d do whatever I wanted to do… with whoever I wanted to do it with.” She held her gaze with him before standing back up and leaving Tony with his watch and drink. Tony hummed thoughtfully.

***

Rhodey was speaking into his phone, letting the voice of his superiors slowly drown out as he walked up to Tony’s mansion. He looked over at the towering walls, an impressed eyebrow raised at the structure almost shaking from the music inside. He focused his attention back on his superior, “No- yes. Yes sir, I understand. No. No sir, that will not be necessary. I’ll handle it. Sir, I personally guarantee that within 24 hours, Iron Man will be back on watch.” He finally turned his phone off, looking up to find an exasperated Pepper running over to him.

“Hey Pepper,” he looked over at her in concern, her face was slightly flushed. Her usual demeanor a lot more buzzed with anxiety and tiredness.

“I’m going to get some air,” she exhaled heavily.

“What’s wrong?” Rhodey asked.

She took a hold of his arm and walked him over to the life of the party, a very drunk Tony Stark, wearing his Iron Man suit, fell over. An immediate wave of anger fired over Rhodey, before it was quickly replaced with worry, “Taeyong?”

“I got him to Mrs Seo’s for now,” she explained. “He thinks he’s at a sleepover.” 

“Good, but Tony? I’m making-”

“No don’t!” she quickly cut him off. “I just- give me a second, I’ll figure something out, the last thing we need on our backs is calling someone else.” 

“Pepper,” Rhodey tried to reason, “I just stuck my neck out for his guy-”

“I know, I  _ know _ okay? I get it. I’m gonna handle it, okay. Just let me handle it.” 

“Handle it,” Rhodey stressed. “Or I’m gonna have to.” 

“You know!” Tony’s booming voice was heard over the crowd. He managed to stand up, “The question I get asked most often is, ‘Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?’” an almost orgasmic expression overtook his face. Rhodey scrunched his face with disgust, turning to Pepper with a look that said _do something now_. “Just like that,” Tony grinned sluggishly. The crowd cheered, resulting in a pulsing headache from Pepper at the noise and then a roll of Rhodey’s eyes, he really hated them. 

Pepper pushed her way through the crowd and grinned as she saddled up against Tony. A slight embarrassed smile settling on her face. “Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?” she said to the crowd before turning to Tony.

“I love you,” he confessed.

“Unbelievable! Thank you Tony, so much. We all thank you for such a wonderful night. And we’re gonna say good night now, thank you all for coming,” she directed to the crowd. 

“No, no, no, no, we can’t… Wait, wait, wait. We didn’t have the cake? We didn’t blow out the candles!” he whined, quite like Taeyong, but less cute. Rhodey didn’t hide the snide scoff when he looked at his best friend making a fool of himself. 

“You’re out of control, okay? Trust me on this one. It’s time to go to bed. It’s time.”

“Give me a smooch,” Tony giggled.

Pepper’s face made a stern expression, almost like a headmaster shaking their head at a troublesome student; too much paperwork and too many parents to please. “You peed yourself.”

“The suit has a filtration system.”

“It’s not sexy.”

“You could drink that water,” Tony said.

“Tony,” her stern expression remained until Tony huffed and he pulled a mic from thin air. 

“Pepper Potts. She’s right. The party’s over. Then again,” he shrugged, “the party was over for me, like an hour and a half ago. The after party starts in 15 minutes!” he grinned and settled for the deafening cheers from the crowd below him. “And if anyone,” he spun around to face Pepper, “had a problem with that. Well then, the doors that way,” he motioned offhandedly, the slight flex of his hand resulted in a blast from where he was pointing. Pepper screamed as glass shattered and the crowd roared with intoxicated aromas and the light influenced air overtaking their sane minds. 

Tony cheered with the masses, watching a girl scream and throw a bottle into the air, he aimed almost out of instinct and blasted the pieces into a million little health hazards. “Hit! Pull!” He grinned widely, all teeth bearing like that of a serial killer's mugshot and almost cackled as another girl managed to find a watermelon. “I think she wanted the Gallagher!” 

Before Tony could blast the watermelon, another force destroys the fruit into juicy chunks, the sticky residue running along his suit. “I’m only going to say this once,” Rhodey’s voice called. Tony, as well as the rest of the crowd spun around to the marshall, “Get out.” His voice devoid of emotion and face still with pulsing and bubbling anger. The crowd slowly started to disperse, some running like little ants from a human foot. “You don’t deserve to wear one of these. Shut it down!” 

Tony cocked his head to the side, “Goldstein.”

His DJ shakily looked at his boss, “Yes, Mr Stark?”

“Give me a phat beat to kick my buddy’s ass to,” he ordered. His lips twitched as Another One Bites the Dust by Oueen started to play. Tony and Rhodey started to run to each other, Rhodey quickly side stepped and attacked Tony from the back, holding his shoulders and pulling back. “I told you to shut it down.” Tony flew into the air and flipped over Rhodey, pulling back.

“Now put that thing back where you found it,” he teased. “Before someone gets hurt.” Rhodey started to throw things his way, “really?” Tony pushed back and grabbed for one of his set of weights, whacking at Rhodey’s middle. “Sorry pal. But Iron-Man doesn’t have a sidekick.” 

Rhodey swiping at Tony’s leg, battering him with debris “Sidekick this!” he kicked at Tony, flying into the ceiling together. 

“You want it! Take it!” Tony roared, holding his hands out. 

Rhodey repeated the stance, this repulsors at the ready, “put your hand down!” 

“You think you got what it takes to wear that suit?”

“We don’t have time to do this, Tony.” 

“You wanna be the War Machine, take your shot.”

“Put it down!”

“You gonna take a shot?” Tony said, each repulsor burning brighter.

“Put it down!” Rhodey repeated.

”No!”

“Drop it Tony!”

“Take it!” Their blasts met and Tony’s house burnt around him. The force knocked both men backwards. Tony groaned, but sat up to see Rhodey stare at him before flying off with the suit.

NEXT TIME ON: League of Superheroes

Tony lay casually and with his usual air of arrogance inside a giant sculpture of a donut. More specifically at Randy's Donuts, his suit blowing cool over his skin but nothing stopped the almost feverish sweat dripping from his temple. He sighed with a rocky breathe as he bit into the fluffy morning donut, carefully chewing. 

"Sir! I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the donut!"


End file.
